Saving the World
by alicenotinwonderland
Summary: Hermione heads an organization that protects Muggles and wizards alike. When she and the Aurors have to work on a difficult case and her old romance with Draco resurfaces when she's engaged to Ron, can she face all the twists and save the world? R&R!
1. Chapter 1

**Hi! This is my first Draco/Hermione story as well as the first time I'm trying the adventure/romance genres so please give me your feedback! **

**In this story, Hermione, Ron, Harry are all 25...anything in **_italics_** are flashbacks or thoughts of the characters. It starts off a little slowly, but I hope to make the chapters better...**

**Disclaimer : I don't own anything you recognise. It all belongs to JKR.**

**Don't flame me but R&R please!**

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><p><em><strong>I don't know whether war is an interlude during peace, or peace an interlude during war. - Georges Clemenceau<strong>_

The masked woman gazed out at the burning building, brown eyes misty with memories. Similarly masked people moved around the area along with the dark blue robed Aurors. One of the Aurors approached her, a sad smile on his face.

"You've had better memories at this place, haven't you Hermione?"

"Harry, I've told you a million times, no names when I'm on the job!" Hermione hissed at the bespectacled Auror, adjusting her mask at the same time. "And yes, I have had better memories here," she added sadly.

"R1, we found her. She's not a pretty sight," said one of the masked men, coming over to Harry and Hermione. He gestured over his shoulder. "They just dragged her out of the wreckage."

Harry and Hermione hurried to where a group of Aurors and masked people had gathered around a stretcher. Hermione couldn't contain a gasp as she looked at the once beautiful face, now charred, burned and bloody. She could still see the pride and hint of arrogance the dead woman had always been famous for etched on the disfigured face.

"R3, did you run the tests?" Hermione snapped at one of her masked associates. She didn't mean to snap. The dead woman's face was making her angry. She was a woman she had grown to respect and seeing her now, in such a state was turning out to be more than she could handle. She knew what the preliminary tests on the body would say, she had been through this same situation seven times already, although this was the first time the victims were people she used to know.

"Of course I ran the tests. Like all the others, she's been tortured and left to asphyxiate and burn in the building," answered the masked woman she had snapped at.

"Very well," sighed Hermione. "I'll be back at Headquarters for a while. Auror Potter, keep me posted on any new developments." She Disapparated before anyone saw the tears in her eyes.

She materialized in her office at Headquarters. It was a fairly big room. There were windows on one wall and a desk, a marker board and three chairs comprised of the only furniture. Behind the desk, engraved on the wall in curly writing were the words, _"Help will always be given to those who deserve it." _

Hermione switched off the surveillance camera in her room, collapsed into a chair and removed her mask, rubbing at her eyes. She stared at the words on the wall, thinking back to why the very building she was sitting in had been built…

Five years ago, after Hermione had got into the Ministry of Magic, she had greatly improved the quality of life for house-elves and muggleborns while Harry and Ron became Aurors. She also wanted to fight and help them round up the last of the Death Eaters but she didn't want to go through the hours of paperwork and training the Aurors had to undergo. She had resigned herself to working in the Law Enforcement Department.

One day, she had switched on the Muggle television she had bought and saw that Muggles had been facing their own battles. She watched reports about a massive terrorist attack; Muggle newspapers reported alarming death tolls. Everyday, more crimes were committed. That was when Hermione had realized that magic could be used to help everyone. She had no Dark Lords to deal with in the magical world now. So, she decided to go back and help her old world, the Muggle world. She gathered some of her friends who wanted to help but didn't want to be full time Aurors too. To protect their identities, she and her band of witches and wizards wore uniforms and masks. Within the year, they had become – in Muggle terms – "superheroes."

She and her group of wizards patrolled streets at night and watched busy areas in the morning. They were successful in catching many criminals. By the end of the year, wizards all over the world had joined them and Hermione's band of wizards had grown into an organization recognized and respected by both Muggles and wizard kind. She had named her organization 'Auxilium.'

The Muggles didn't know exactly who they were, of course. They speculated that Auxilium was comprised of a group of mutants, superheroes, aliens, sorcerers and highly skilled government agents working towards world peace. To further protect their identities, the members of Auxilium were addressed only by rank, even among themselves while in public and in front of new recruits. Only the higher ranked members knew the names of everyone in the organization. To the rest of the world, they were simply called R1, R2 or whatever their rank was.

With the cooperation of the Muggle and magical defense agencies, Auxilium had thwarted several attempts to create chaos in the world. Auxilium bridged the Muggle and magical worlds while still maintaining the secrecy that had been necessary since the time of the medieval witch hunts. They had been so successful in preventing so many atrocities…until now.

The door to Hermione's office opened, pulling her away from her memories of Auxilium's creation and growth.

"How are you, Hermione?" asked the masked man who entered.

Hermione didn't need to see the badge that said 'R2.' The voice was far too familiar and only five people had access to her office. "Hello Neville," she said tiredly, as Neville took off his own mask.

"They found Lucius Malfoy's body too, not far from Narcissa's. Both of them, like the eight other families before them, are charred and burnt and bear obvious signs of ante-mortem torture."

"And the house was wrecked before it was set on fire?" Hermione asked, drawing on her knowledge of the case.

"Just like the other seven." Neville looked weary as he went up to the board in the room and added the eighth name to the list on it. 'Malfoy Manor,' he wrote.

"Does Draco know yet?" Hermione's whisper was barely audible.

Neville didn't meet her eyes. "Harry stayed back to tell him but I was there too. I – I've never seen Draco look so distraught, not since…" he trailed off.

Hermione looked out of her window, not meeting Neville's eyes herself. The whole building was underground, but all the members of Auxilium were skilled enough to enchant their windows like in the Ministry. She cleared her throat. "Right, I'm going home. Ron doesn't know what happened. I should go tell him." She Disapparated quickly, trusting Neville to lock up her office.

X-X-X

"That you, Hermione?" Ron called when he heard the apartment door open and close. A minute later, Hermione appeared in the kitchen.

"You didn't burn down the house?" she asked, looking at Ron's stained apron.

"Not this time," he announced proudly. "I made noodles."

She strode over to the dustbin in the corner and popped open the lid. "Not a successful first attempt, I see," she said, smiling slightly at the mess of noodles inside.

"Well…no," admitted Ron, "but I got it right after a couple of tries." He scooped some noodles out of a vessel on the stove and put them on a plate that he handed to her anxiously.

She took a cautious bite and then smiled fondly at him. "You're a quick learner when it comes to food."

He grinned broadly at the praise and sat down with her on the couch in their living room. He let her eat for a while and then asked the question she had been dreading. "So what was today's case about? Harry told me it wasn't important so I could go home early."

Hermione put down her plate and stared at her feet, avoiding Ron's eyes. "There was another attack. We were too late, just like the last seven times."

"There was another arson and attack? But why didn't Harry want me along then? I'm on this case too!" said Ron, indignantly.

"He didn't want you there because it was Malfoy Manor."

A multitude of emotions passed across Ron's face – shock, anger, pity, hatred, disgust. He rubbed his face. "I'm sorry, Hermione. I – I know the ferret – Draco-" he amended hastily, "-and I had our differences but even he doesn't deserve to have his family and his home wrecked like this." He put his arms around her comfortingly.

"I just wish I knew why these attacks are happening! We've been working on this case for so long and we don't have a single lead. This is the eighth attack in six months and we're no closer to finding the culprit or their motive than we were when the first attack happened. It can't be an anti-Death Eater group because only two of the victims so far have been Death Eater families. It can't be a pro-Voldemort group because of the same reason. It can't be a Muggle group. It can't be an anti-Pureblood group because three attacks were on Muggles. There are never any witnesses, there's never any evidence that points us in any direction. The victims have never been related as far as we know. The only connection we've found so far is that all the families that have been attacked are really, really rich." Hermione couldn't keep the desperation out of her voice as memories of the nine victims' burned bodies and houses flashed before her eyes.

Ron gave her a hug. "It'll be alright. You're not the only brainy one working on this anymore. We'll figure it out. We'll avenge every death…including the Malfoys'," he said, soothingly.

They just sat there for a few minutes, giving each other silent comfort and listening to the muffled sounds of Harry coming home and Ginny greeting him next door. They had rented adjacent apartments in the Leaky Cauldron. Neville lived in the one across the hall. The Leaky Cauldron's upper floors had been rebuilt as apartments by the new landlady, Hannah Abbot (who was the reason Neville was staying there, according to Ginny). There was a knock on their door, and the Potters came in.

"Hi Hermione," Ginny said, looking at the brunette anxiously, balancing a sleeping James Sirius Potter on her hip. Hermione nodded back.

Harry looked at her. "Malfoy Manor's been roped off. As in the previous cases, there were no witnesses. We're still searching for any incriminating evidence with your people helping, but we doubt there will be any. The house still seems to have all valuables even if they're no longer intact. The only thing that's been reported missing so far is a ring that Narcissa always wore."

"How do you know that?" asked Ron.

"Draco told us," Harry answered, glancing at Hermione before turning to Ron.

Ron felt Hermione tense in his arms. "Did he see his parents?" she asked urgently.

"He's more shocked than sorrowful right now. He's paler than usual. When we asked him to leave, he looked…"

"Distraught," finished Hermione.

Ron seemed to struggle with himself for a moment. He hesitated but finally managed to say, "Hermione, do you want to go seen him?"

She looked at Ron, surprised, and then shook her head. "No. He'll want his space for a while. He's probably going thorough a lot of emotions right now." She couldn't help thinking, "_And I don't want to add to his emotional stress too." _ She pulled away from Ron. "I think I'll go to bed."

Ron sighed as she left the room. "You know what? The Malfoys seem to cause me more stress when they're dead than when they were alive."

X-X-X

Hermione lay on her bed but didn't fall asleep. She appreciated Ron's willingness to let her go see Draco. She knew it was hurting him that she was upset about the blonde Slytherin and his family. But she couldn't help it, not after everything that had happened seven years ago, when she'd gone back to Hogwarts for her final year. She looked at the ceiling, remembering Draco as she'd known him then…

"_You're coming to my house for Christmas." Draco announced._

"_I have to go to the Burrow remember?" Hermione replied, looking up from her homework._

"_You go there all the time. Don't you want to spend Christmas with your _boyfriend?"

_She smiled at him. "Can I go to the Burrow for at least a couple of days? I do want to see Harry."_

"_Deal." He kissed her softly. "If Weasley troubles you, send me an owl immediately," he added._

"_Which Weasley?" she asked lightly, although she knew exactly which one he was talking about._

"_As if you don't know. Ronald Weasley." Draco said the name as if it were a swear word._

_Three days later, she and Draco stood in front of Malfoy Manor._

"_I can't do it, Draco. I can't go in." Hermione looked terrified at the sight of the house._

_Draco pulled her into his arms, stroking her hair soothingly. "Hey it's alright. Bellatrix is dead. No one will hurt you in there. I won't let anything happen to you," he murmured. She calmed down and faced the house. "You were always weak around Boggarts and Dementors," he said, "But the only way to overcome fears is to face them head-on. I'll be right there beside you."_

_Hermione had walked in to the same hall she had been tortured in just a few months ago and enjoyed a very normal tea with the Malfoys. Narcissa had talked to her a few times earlier as she had reconciled with her sister, Andromeda, and she was quite comfortable around Hermione. Lucius had been polite in a rather forced manner but he had been positively nice by his usual standards._

_Later that evening, Hermione stood there in that hall alone._

"_Hermione?" Draco asked coming in, "What are doing down here, all alone?"_

"_I don't know what scares me more – this room, or the fact that I actually had a perfectly polite tea with your parents here." _

_He laughed. "The best way to deal with bad memories, is to replace them with good ones." He fiddled around with an old gramophone in the corner and then took her hand as a slow waltz filled the air. "Dance with me," he whispered, guiding her around the candle-lit room, holding her close. He pulled his wand out as he twirled her around and waved it. Hermione found herself wearing a beautiful white gown with white roses – her favourites – in her hair. _

"_You always had a flair for old Shakespearean style," she said, resting her head against his chest._

"_What can I say?" he replied, with his signature smirk, "I'm an aristocrat."_

_On Christmas day, he took her out to her favourite Muggle restaurant. He even braved the train to get there. When they returned to his house, he handed her a small wrapped box._

"_What's this?" she asked._

"_A Christmas present, what else?" he replied, rolling his eyes._

_She opened it to find a beautiful gold necklace with a Gryffindor lion pendant with rubies for eyes. _

"_Not all my relatives are Slytherins," he smirked._

"_I can't possibly take this! It must be some sort of family heirloom," said Hermione._

_He took the necklace and clasped it around her neck. She shivered as his fingers brushed along her neck and he put his hand on her cheek. "It belongs to a true, loyal Gryffindor. I can't think of anyone more loyal than you," he answered._

_She gazed into his silver-grey eyes and then kissed him passionately. "Thank you," she said when she broke away, "for the necklace, for the compliment…and for being so perfect."_

Malfoy Manor did hold quite a few wonderful memories. Hermione remembered laughing at Draco's expression when a ferret had jumped into the garden followed by a weasel once. He had pushed her into the pond for laughing at him and she'd pulled him in with her. They'd splashed around for a minute before realizing it was December and the pond was freezing cold. They'd spent the rest of the day inside, reading, talking, laughing and occasionally drinking Pepper-Up Potion.

Draco was smart, wittily sarcastic, a perfect gentleman…After the war when he'd been treated like any common person by Voldemort, Draco had understood that a life was a life no matter what society someone belonged to. As a show of trust, McGonagall had made him Head Boy and Hermione Head Girl when they had returned to Hogwarts to finish their seventh year properly.

They had been forced to work with each other and realized that they rather enjoyed each other's company in the absence of old prejudices. They had grown closer and after a series of events, they had started going out. Hermione remembered fondly how they had sat on his roof at midnight on New Year and he had traced out the constellation Draco in the huge web of stars that had twinkled down on them.

But things hadn't lasted. Hermione hadn't seen or spoken to Draco for five years now. She knew he was working with the Aurors too. His decision to become an Auror had been met with plenty of speculation but within a year, he had proved to be extremely good at his job and the papers were full of praise. She had worked with him on occasion as the head of Auxilium, but he hadn't known her identity. The members of Auxilium were so paranoid that they even disguised their voices occasionally.

The last time she'd heard any personal news about him – something that she hadn't read about in the papers – was when Neville had run into Draco and told her about the conversation later. She remembered Neville's words from earlier that evening : "I've never seen Draco look that distraught, not since…" She knew how Neville had wanted to finish that sentence. She knew he would have said, "Not since I told him you were engaged to Ron."

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><p><strong>Sorry about the rather long paragraphs, but they were necessary to explain what was going on. Please tell me if there was something that sounded ambiguous or something you didn't understand and I'll correct it.<strong>

**Please review! Can I get at least 5 reviews? This is a new type of story for me and I would love to hear your advice :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**So here's the next chapter. Thanks so much for reading/reviewing/putting my story on your favourites or alerts list! Your reviews really mean a lot to me! **

**Please read : A friend told me that she'd read another story where there were eight people dead too. I just want to put a disclaimer saying that any similarity my story may have with other stories is purely coincidental. I have not and will never plagiarize someone's story. If something turns out to be exactly like another story, please let me know so that I can change it. As of now, I've changed the number of victims to eight including the Malfoys. **

** Sorry about the OOCness in this chapter. This is the first time I'm trying a non-canon pairing so I'm learning how to write them as I go along. Please review with any feedback you'd like to give me! Italics are flashbacks. **

**Bellaroe - I meant that Draco realised that even though he was a Death Eater, he was still treated badly by Voldemort and his status and position didn't make him much better to Voldmort...hope that clears it up!  
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**Disclaimer : I don't own HP.**

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><p>"<em>Well, what do you want from me?" Hermione screamed.<em>

"_I want you to stay here at the Burrow!" Ron shouted back._

"_Well I don't want to do that! I'm tired of fighting; I don't want to join you as an Auror. I want to go back to Hogwarts."_

"_There are still Death Eaters out there; they'd love to get you. You should stay here, where Harry and I can protect you."_

"I _need protection? You think _I_ can't take care of myself? You're the one who can barely Apparate without splinching yourself. You're the one who depended on _me_ when we were on the run. Now you want me to stay here and learn to be a good housewife or something?" Hermione demanded._

"_I just want you to stay here where you'll be safe. It's been barely three months since Voldemort was defeated. His supporters are still at large," snapped Ron._

"_What about what I want? I want to finish my education. Besides, Hogwarts is safe now," Hermione snapped back._

"_I just don't want anything bad to happen to you. Why do you want to go back to school anyway? You know more than any of those seventh years. Besides, we've been properly together for only a few months now and you want us to be separated again!" Ron said._

"_It's only Hogwarts, for Merlin's sake! You can visit me on weekends, it's not like I'm going to Australia!" Hermione countered. _

"_No. You're _my_ girlfriend and I want you to stay here."_

_Hermione gave him a disappointed look. "If being your girlfriend means I can't follow my dreams while you get to follow yours, I'd rather not be your girlfriend at all. We're done." She marched out of the room._

Hermione sat up in bed and looked around wildly. She calmed down and tried to run a hand through her tangled bushy hair. For some reason, she'd been dreaming about her break up with Ron just before she'd left to finish her last year at Hogwarts. It wasn't the first time she'd been dreaming about it either. Ever since the attack on the Malfoys one week ago, she'd been having dreams of that memory and occasionally, Draco's face would float through her dreams as well.

The sounds of Ron getting ready for work filled their apartment. She glanced at her bedside clock and sighed. Trelawney could probably think of a hundred interpretations to her dream, but right now, she didn't have time to worry about it. She had to get to work.

A couple of hours later, Hermione entered the Aurors' conference room in full Auxilium gear. Investigation into the Malfoys' murder was beginning that day. Hermione took her seat between Neville and Ginny (who was R3), all of them masked. Harry, Ron and a few other Aurors sat around the table as well. Kingsley who was also helping with the case due to its high profile was at the head of the long table.

"Let's begin with a review of the case so far, shall we?" he said.

A short, dark-haired Auror called Viola Newman stood up and walked over to the marker board in the room. "So far, we've seen eight attacks on various families in the last six months. Each attack involves the victims, usually the elderly in the family, being tortured, stunned and left in the house which is then set on fire along with any incriminating evidence the perpetrators may have left behind. Robbery is clearly not the motive since all valuables are left untouched – Mrs. Malfoy's ring is the only exception so far. The victims' children are never at home at the time of the attack, so the houses are probably watched. So far, the Malfoys, Notts, Garetts, and Brocklehursts have been the wizard victims and the Blakes, Carters and Smiths were the Muggle victims. It may be possible that the victims are questioned about something under torture. The only connection that all eight families share is that they are old and wealthy families." She sat down.

"Any leads?" asked Kingsley.

Everyone shook their heads.

"There isn't any person or group that all eight victims knew. It must be someone we've never heard of," said Neville.

"Actually," started Harry, hesitantly, "we've been looking into Rabastan Lestrange, Bellatrix's brother-in-law. He's been missing since the war. We never found him."

"He must be in hiding. We can't find any family either," said Ron.

"It's the only lead we have for now, so work on it. And see what you can find out about Narcissa's missing ring, it might lead us somewhere," said Kingsley, wearily. He dismissed the meeting.

Hermione hurried to a bathroom, changed quickly and emerged in regular work robes. She headed to her office in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. She'd barely sat at her desk when her secretary, Jessica, rushed in. "Madam Granger, I think you should see this."

Hermione followed her harassed-looking secretary to a large door at the end of the corridor. "The Hall of Records?" Hermione asked, confused.

Jessica pushed open the door, and Hermione gasped.

Every shelf, cabinet and locker had been knocked over or opened. Parchment was still floating to the ground to join the jumbled heap that obscured the floor. Inkbottles had been smashed and ink was forming multicoloured puddles on the already messy floor.

"When did this happen?" Hermione demanded.

"I was in here just before the Auror meeting," said Jessica. The Auror office, Hall of Records and Hermione's offices were all on the same floor. "The floor was sealed off since the meeting was high profile. I just saw this on my way to your office."

"But the meeting just ended ten minutes ago! There were members of Auxilium who must have come this way to get to the lifts. This couldn't have happened in the last fifteen minutes at least. All the other workers would have been heading up the lifts too. Someone would have noticed something," exclaimed Hermione. A horrible thought struck her and she voiced it. "No one can enter this floor when it's been sealed off unless they're an Auror or part of Auxilium. This place could have been wrecked only in the hour the meeting was going on. Whoever did this had inside help."

Harry and Ron suddenly appeared on the scene with five Aurors and some of the Keepers of the Hall of Records.

"We just heard about this. Do you think it has something to do with our case?" Harry asked.

Everyone knew Hermione knew about the case even though she wasn't an Auror and no one knew she was the head of Auxilium. "You shouldn't rule out that possibility but there's no way to be sure until we bring some order to this room," replied Hermione.

Ron looked at the men they'd brought. "Aurors, stay here with the Keepers as they organize this room. Keepers, I want a list of any missing documents within ten days. Whoever did this was searching for something and they must have trashed the place so that we won't know what they were looking for until it's too late."

"Are you mad? There are documents in here dating back to the 1600s when the Ministry was _formed_. We can't organize everything in ten days," protested a Keeper.

"Take as many people as you need. Start from the most recent documents. Use any spells you need to. I don't care if you have to use Time-Turners to finish on time but this has to be cleaned up within ten days. We need to see what the thieves took. If anything looks like it's been handled recently, if there are any new marks or fingerprints that couldn't have been caused by this mess, report to me immediately," ordered Harry.

He turned to Ron. "I want you to find out who used their Auror access card to get into the floor when it was sealed."

Ron shook his head. "The card machines shut down in the morning for some reason. We had to put a security guard at the floor entrance, near the lifts."

"Let's go ask him if he saw anyone."

Harry, Ron and Hermione rushed to the lifts. There was no security guard in sight.

"That's odd," said Ron, "I specifically told Security to keep someone up here till the card machines were fixed."

Hermione strode over to the magically enhanced Muggle machines that were now used to restrict or grant access to the floor. She held up her card to it but the machine was still not working. "They've been disabled. Send one to Auxilium immediately. They were designed to be tamper-proof."

Harry was frowning at a broom closet by the lifts. "No, please, no," he muttered as he strode over and pulled open the door.

All three of them swore loudly as the dead security guard fell out.

"Avada Kedavra," whispered Harry, bitterly, looking away from the body, "leaves no trace."

**X-X-X**

Draco lay flat on his bed, staring at the bare ceiling of his small rented apartment in the Leaky Cauldron. One week after the destruction of his family and his home, he was a total wreck. He didn't want to go to work. He was sure he looked terrible but he couldn't bring himself to look into the mirror – he looked too much like his father. Tears rolled down his cheeks again as he remembered his parents.

The Malfoys had always been a close family, they had loved each other more than anyone else and they had always done their best to protect each other – until now. Draco hadn't even been home when his parents had been attacked. The Aurors hadn't let him collect any of his possessions, declaring everything to be 'evidence'. He snorted, he had been on this case too, and there _was _no evidence.

He had loved his parents so much, and now they were gone. The Malfoys' love for each other had even surpassed their fear of Voldemort. And now they were gone. They had been the only people he had cared so much about, except for _her_ of course…Hermione Granger…

"_Hello Granger."_

_Hermione looked up suspiciously. If Malfoy just called her 'Granger' politely, it was best she was cautious. "What do you want?"_

"_This is the Prefects' carriage, yes? I'm Head Boy and I see you're Head Girl. I came to join you for the Prefect's meeting."_

_For a moment, the only sound in the compartment was the rattling of the Hogwarts Express as it made its way through a tunnel. Hermione was completely thrown by his politeness. "That's it? You're not going to insult me or my friends?" she asked._

_Draco sighed as he sat down. "Look, I admit it, I was a deluded, spoiled brat. The last two years have taught me that status doesn't matter when you're fighting for your life. You may not be a pureblood but even I acknowledge that you're far more skilled than any pureblood I know, so I no longer believe purebloods are superior. I'm ready to put aside our differences and start over. Are you?"_

_Hermione stared at him, "Who are you and what have you done with Draco Malfoy?"_

_He smiled, an action she had thought he was incapable of. "I'm Draco," he said, "Just Draco."_

_Over the next couple of months, they had been forced to interact very often due to their Head duties. After countless fights, shouting matches and the occasional hex, they had developed a grudging respect for each other. Draco found himself admiring Hermione's skills and her proud acceptance of her heritage. She in turn, found herself admiring Draco's calm, composed attitude when it came to handling the many enemies he now had at Hogwarts and his newfound humility. Not once did the words, 'Mudblood,' or 'my father' leave his lips._

_Having to work together and share a tower as Head students made them realize that, in the absence of their old prejudices, they found each other quite engaging. Everyday, they found new qualities in each other that they had never noticed before. By the end of October, they had achieved the impossible – they had become good friends._

_Draco entered the common room of the Heads' tower one evening in early November._

"_Granger?" he frowned at the girl curled up in an armchair, tears streaming down her face. "What's wrong?" he asked cautiously._

_She was holding a letter. "Harry wrote to me," she sniffed._

"_Oh. It's not bad news, is it?"_

"_No. He's doing fine. He's taking care of Teddy, he misses Ginny, Auror training is going great; everything's fine."_

"_Well, what's the problem then?"_

"_This is Harry's fourth letter to me. Ron hasn't written or replied to my letters at all!" she wailed._

_Draco sat down beside her. "Well, you know Weasley. He's not the type to write every week. You said he's helping his brother at the joke shop? That's got to be keeping him busy," he reasoned._

_The next moment, Hermione was sobbing into his shoulder about how she'd broken up with Ron but she'd written to say sorry and he didn't understand her at all sometimes and how much she missed him. _

_Draco patted her on the back awkwardly. "Hey come on, your big brain has far worthier things to worry about than Weasley." He hesitated and then put his arms around her. "If he can't understand what you see in Hogwarts, if he can't see that you're one of the most independent witches around and that you're going to follow _your_ dreams, he doesn't know you well at all. You're smart, loyal, brave and talented. You don't need Weasley in your life to be happy."_

_She looked at him with those big brown eyes. "Really?"_

_For the first time, Draco realized that she was really quite pretty. "Really."_

_He walked into the little kitchenette in their tower and came out a few minutes later with two big mugs of hot chocolate. _

_She looked surprised as he handed her a mug. "You can actually use a kitchen?"_

"_I can just make hot chocolate." His voice shook. "Last year, I woke up sometimes in the middle of the night after a bad dream. I didn't want to wake anyone else by summoning a house elf so I learnt how to make hot chocolate myself. It always calms me down."_

_Hermione looked at him. "I didn't know you could be so compassionate and understanding."_

"_I didn't know you could be so emotional. It makes you less perfect, more human somehow. You're not the tough, strong witch of the Golden Trio all the time," he answered._

_She gazed into his grey eyes. They were troubled with old memories. She didn't know what made her do it, she didn't know how she felt so comfortable around him, but she snuggled up to him. "I think it's time we both let go of the past, Draco."_

"_I think you're right, Hermione."_

Draco dragged himself out of bed. He didn't know why he'd been dreaming about his earliest memories with Hermione but it had made him feel slightly calmer. It was four in the evening, he hadn't had lunch. He didn't want to go down to the pub and face all the staring he knew he'd experience. He looked out of his window at Diagon Alley. He found a clean shirt and ran a hand through his hair to make it appear presentable and washed his face. He could lose himself in the crowded street. Who knew, maybe fresh air _was _good for grief.

The minute Draco stepped into Diagon Alley, he wished he could go back to his room. Even though it was so full of people, everyone seemed to point and muter at him. Everywhere he looked, he had flashbacks of visiting the shop with his parents. The muttering seemed to fill his head. He felt suffocated. In his desperation to get away from all the staring, he spotted a tiny shop in a corner he hadn't noticed before. Without bothering to look at the shop's name, he rushed in, sighing with relief when he saw it was empty.

"Draco?" He whirled around, his heart beating fast. He knew that voice so well, he'd just been dreaming about it.

Hermione Granger stood behind the little counter by the door.

"Hello Hermione." He'd missed her so much. He'd missed seeing those brown eyes fill up with concern just for him. "How are you?" he asked.

"I'm fine."

He looked around the shop and unwillingly smiled as he saw what she was selling. "You own a stationery shop?"

"It's far easier using pens and notebooks than quills and loose parchment. Business is booming," she replied.

"You always wanted to bring the Muggle and Wizarding worlds closer," said Draco. He cast around for a topic that wouldn't remind him of their old romance. "But you work at the Ministry, don't you?"

"I only work there in the mornings. You would know that if you actually turned up to do some paperwork in the office once in a while," Hermione said, smiling.

He looked at her, a shadow of his old smirk on his face. "Have I ever been one for paperwork?" He didn't mention that he preferred to be out on the field so that he could avoid seeing her and remembering their old relationship again. "So…you're engaged to Weasley?" So much for talking about something that didn't remind him of their old relationship.

She looked uncomfortable too. "Yes, I am."

"Don't know what you see in the weasel though."

"I always had a thing for animals in the Genus Mustela thought didn't I, _ferret_?" she smirked. Her voice became gentle as she looked at him kindly. "Enough about me, how are _you_, Draco?"

He slumped onto a stool, rested his elbows and his head in his hands. "My life is crap. Everyone kept staring and pointing when I walked down the street." He laughed humourlessly. "I finally understand how Potter feels. You lose your parents and suddenly, you're the centre of attention when all you want to do is crawl in to a hole and die." His stomach rumbled loudly. "And I'm starving too."

Hermione sighed, "I wasn't particularly fond of your father, but I liked Narcissa. She was always so good with Teddy too whenever she visited Andromeda. They didn't deserve to die like this."

"They didn't deserve to die at all."

Hermione pulled a comb out of her purse and smoothed Draco's unruly hair. He looked up at her. "Come on," she said, "My assistant can look after the shop for a while. Let's get you something to eat. How does butterscotch cake, a big bag of crisps and a nice, steaming mug of hot chocolate sound?"

"You remember my favourite late lunch," he said, smiling slightly. Then he remembered the crowd. "But what about all the staring people?"

She took his hand and met his grey eyes, both of them surprised at the tingles that ran through their bodies at the contact. "You'll be fine, just do what Harry does and ignore them."

Half an hour later, they sat outside a small café, sipping hot chocolate. People were still staring but Draco felt strangely impervious to them. Being with Hermione always made him feel protected from the world. She had avoided talking about the case, but now, he brought it up himself.

"Do the Aurors have any leads?" he asked.

She sighed, "Except for your mother's ring and the fact that Rabastan Lestrange is missing, no. Oh and the Hall of Records was trashed."

"What?"

Hermione told him about what had happened that morning.

"An inside job?" he demanded.

"That's what it looks like. But why haven't you received any updates from the Auror office? You're on this case too."

Draco's hands shook as he set down his mug. "I received a letter the day after my parents…you know. The Aurors said I was too close to the case now to do an unbiased job. They kicked me off the case."

"What? But that's not right! I'll talk to Harry and see what he can do to get you back on," said Hermione.

"Thanks," he replied. He drained the last of his hot chocolate and wiped his mouth with a tissue.

Hermione grinned, "You still have a bit…right…there." She leaned over as she spoke and rubbed away some chocolate from his face. A pleasant shiver ran up her hand when her fingers touched his cheek. "You'll be fine, Draco. You're strong," she whispered, resting her had against his cheek.

He shuddered slightly at the familiar feeling of butterflies in his stomach at her touch. Her hand was soft and cool against his cheek but there was a cold, metal feeling too at one point – right about where her ring finger rested on his cheek. He drew back, away from the coldness of her engagement ring. "You should get back to your shop," he said, almost curtly.

Hermione looked surprised at his tone but nodded. "I'm staying at the Leaky Cauldron too. If you need any help…"

"Yeah."

She left, but she felt..odd. She felt happy. Her heart sank as she recognized the feeling. She felt exactly as she used to when she and Draco went on a date seven years ago.

The next morning, she rushed into her office at the Ministry, slightly late. She had once again dreamed about Draco which left her a little confused.

Her secretary came in hesitantly. "Madam Granger, I think you should see this. I don't know if Mr. Weasley's seen it yet."

Hermione frowned as she took the newspaper Jennifer was holding, it was one of those tabloids she never glanced at. Today, it bore a large headline - '**Dramione Again?**' and a picture of her and Draco outside the café. She was rubbing chocolate off his face and they were both smiling.

"Oh hell, not again," she groaned as Ron's telltale heavy footsteps sounded through the corridor.

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><p><strong>I'm really sorry about Ron and Hermione being OOC right at the beginning of the chapter! I was just trying to show that Ron is concerned for Hermione's safety and being Ron, he puts it across in the wrong way and offends Hermione...sorry if they both appeared like jerks...<strong>

**I am really sorry if any of the characters (especially Draco) seem really OOC. I'm trying to improve and any help is welcome. I'm also looking for a good beta to help me with this story so if anyone has any recommendations, please let me know!**

**Please review! I really need to know what you think to make this story better! I hope I'm putting across the plot clearly and not confusing anyone...**

**Five reviews again?**


	3. Chapter 3

_So sorry about the late update! The story's proving to be a little difficult for me to write..._

_My other story Just Like His Grandfather crossed 350 reviews! I'm so happy! But I'd really like a few more reviews for this story too!_

_Thanks to SpiritedWind, minerva07 and mischief managed-not for reviewing and thanks to everyone put this story on their alerts or favourites list! I really hope to see the list of reviewers getting longer for this chapter!  
><em>

_Hope you like this chapter!_

_Disclaimer : I don't own HP_

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><p>"<em><strong>It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them." – Ralph Waldo Emerson.<strong>_

Ron shook the tabloid in Hermione's face. "_What_ is this?" he demanded.

"We were just having a late lunch. Draco stopped by my shop last evening- accidentally, I might add – we got something to eat, he had a bit of hot chocolate on his face, so I wiped it off," sighed Hermione.

"Why didn't you tell me about this?"

"You came home late last night and left early," snapped Hermione. "Draco was having a hard time coping with his parent's death. I was just trying to help him out."

"The newspaper sure gives a different version."

"So you're going to believe some trashy tabloid instead of me?" Hermione said, beginning to lose patience. "You've always had a problem with jealousy, Ronald. But there's nothing to be jealous of! Draco and I were good friends – more than friends even – I was just trying to help him."

Ron sighed, "You're right, I'm sorry. I do overreact. Just tell me next time you talk to him, alright?"

Hermione felt a little guilty as she heard Ron mutter as he left, "It's the 'more than friends' part that bothers me." She had enjoyed being out with Draco even if the circumstances had been rather sad.

It had strongly reminded her of their dates. She pulled her work closer to distract herself but even the new bill for house-elves reminded her of an evening with Draco...

_"I think it's stupid."_

_"You think that about everything," said Hermione, annoyed. She and Draco were stretched out under the beech tree by the lake, enjoying a free period together. It had only been a week since he'd found her crying in the common room but she'd taken his advice and was slowly beginning to let go of her attachment to Ron._

_Hermione had found an amazing friend in Draco. Without Harry and Ron, she had felt quite alone. Neville hung out with the other Gryffindor boys, she wasn't good friends with Lavender and Parvati and Ginny and Luna had their own classes. She and Draco spent a lot of time together as they shared the same classes and Head duties. They had become very good friends in a very short span of time. She enjoyed the intelligent conversations they shared. Today they were arguing about house elves._

_"It's not fair to the elves to set them free if they don't want to be," said Draco._

_"They don't know what free life is like! Once they do, they'll agree with me. You just don't like the idea of treating a servant as your equal."_

_Draco looked her in the eye, "Once upon a time, I believed that house elves didn't deserve respect. But I'm not like that anymore."_

_"Exactly! House-elves are the same. They've been taught that their life's duty is to serve wizards. But if they, like you, were given a chance to think for themselves and see the real world and not believe whatever they heard from their parents, they would change for the better too. Look at Dobby; he wanted to be free after he left your family."_

_Draco stared at Hermione, admiring the way her eyes lit up and her cheeks flushed with excitement and passions she spoke. She really was beautiful, why hadn't he ever seen that before? How could he have been so foolish and blinded to not see how amazing she was?_

_"Draco?"_

_He snapped out of his trance. "What?"_

_"Don't you think what I said is true?"_

_"What I think is true is that you're going to be covered in leaves."_

_Hermione barely had time to reply before he levitated a whole heap of fallen leaves to fall on top of her. She threw them back at him and in minutes, they were having a leaf war. With the help of a little magic, they were getting the leaves to stick to each other in unseemly places. Five minutes later they were laying on the ground, laughing._

_"I haven't done something as stupid as a leaf fight since I was seven," said Hermione._

_"You and your friends really need to have some fun," replied Draco._

_"I didn't think you even knew how to spell fun," Hermione teased._

_"Hey you're not the only one with brains around here. Let's go, we'll be late for Runes." He pulled her up and started walking back to the castle._

_"You started that fight just to get out of admitting that I was right about house-elves, didn't you?" Hermione asked. She suddenly realized that he was still holding her hand._

_He linked his fingers through hers and they both felt as though little sparks were travelling up their entwined hands._

_"You know me so well," he smirked._

_Hermione's stomach gave a little leap - a feeling she'd only had when she kissed Ron. Why was a mere smirk from Draco making her feel this way? True, he was incredibly handsome and witty and gentlemanly and intelligent and - She shook her head - Draco was just her friend... Wasn't he?_

Hermione looked at the clock. She really had to stop daydreaming or she would never get this done. She decided to take a break and clear her head. She walked across the floor to see Harry.

"Are you busy?" she asked knocking on his open door.

Harry looked up and grinned, "You have excellent timing. I was just looking for an excuse to take a break."

She laughed and sat down as he cleared his paperwork off his desk. "Ron said you met Draco. How is he?" Harry asked, smiling as he crumpled up the tabloid and threw it into the wastebasket.

"You'd know that yourself if you let him come to work," said Hermione pointedly.

Harry rubbed his eyes tiredly. "He'd be a liability, Hermione, you know that."

"You don't suspect him, do you?"

No. He has a solid alibi and I can't see Draco killing his own parents either. But he would take every suspect to be a murderer. He won't be able to think rationally, he'd be biased. He's too involved in this case personally now."

"But-"

"NO, Hermione. You're too personally involved with HIM to take this in an unbiased way too," said Harry firmly.

Hermione hated to admit that Harry was right. She changed the subject. "Any news on who might have let the criminals into the Hall of Records?"

"No but I've got Gawain Robards on it," replied Harry. "Did you see this, by the way?" He pulled out a big shiny invitation from a drawer.

Hermione grinned, "I got one too. It's the invitation to the inauguration of the new Voldemort museum, isn't it?"

"'Complete with replicas of six horcruxes, as well as the authentic ring of Marvolo Gaunt'," Harry read out. "Oh and they have Voldemort's whole life story in pictures. Apparently all his old schoolmates are quite willing to talk about him now he's dead. Bloody cowards, where were they when I really needed all the information?"

"They were scared, Harry," Hermione said, amused. "It's opening on the 2nd of May right? The 7th anniversary of the victory? That's just three weeks from now."

"Another function to attend on the 'lucky seventh anniversary' as the Daily Prophet dubbed it," Harry sighed as he threw the invitation back into the drawer.

He and Hermione talked for a little while longer before they had to get back to work. Hermione refrained from daydreaming for the rest of the day. In the evening, she made her way down the secret passage in a nondescript Muggle alley to Auxilium headquarters. Soon, the five top members were safely ensconced in her private office.

"Luna, what's the update on the card machines?" Hermione asked briskly.

Luna was P4 and George Weasley was P5. George had surprised her when he had asked to be part if Auxilium but she had quickly learnt that not only was he an adept and creative fighter, it also helped him cope with Fred's death. Two evenings a week, he left the shop in the care of his assistants and Lee Jordan and came to Auxilium.

"I don't know who deactivated the machines but there was very Dark Magic involved," said Luna.

"I thought you'd taken care of proper defense for the machines," said Hermione looking at George.

"When I designed it, I didn't imagine anyone would be desperate enough to use Manticore spike powder on it. Not only is the powder a powerful ingredient in Dark magic spells, it's also illegal, rare and really expensive. But if our criminals don't rob the rich people they kill, they must be insanely rich themselves anyway," replied George.

"If they had to buy it, they must have left a trace!" Hermione exclaimed. "We can find them!"

"I wouldn't get so confident. I told you it's illegal to trade in it. The dealers don't exactly advertise in the Daily Prophet," warned George

"Then you're the best man for the job. Let Lee in on it and see if you can find the dealers. It's better we do this ourselves without the Aurors scaring the dealers away."

A voice issued from a speaker on her desk, "P1, there's been another attack!"

Hermione looked at her friends, "Let's go."

XXX

"P1, I'm so glad you made it here this quick!" said Harry hurrying to her as soon as she Apparated on the spot.

"The house isn't burning," noted Hermione.

"One of your people was patrolling the area and spotted three people setting the house on fire. He couldn't see their faces but he contacted us immediately and we were able to come here before the fire got out of control and put it out," said Harry.

"Does that mean the victims are still alive?" Hermione asked excitedly.

"We managed to rescue an old man but he's no longer alive. He managed to mutter something about traitors and double-crossers before he succumbed to the burns," Harry replied sadly.

"Harry, P1! We've got something!" Ron called from the wreckage of the mansion.

"Who's the victim?" Hermione asked as they walked over to Ron.

"Kevin Pritchard. What is it?" Harry added to Ron as they reached him.

The redhead held up a soot- blackened box. "See the soot around the cushion? There was a ring in this box and it was taken minutes after the house caught fire."

"Another missing ring?" Harry said. "Is nothing else missing?"

Ron shook his head.

"Okay, Ron, you get as much information about the ring as possible. Talk to any family members and friends," instructed Harry.

"Auxilium will help you search for more clues and we'll research Dark magic rituals involving ancient rings," said Hermione. She quickly filled Harry in on the latest developments about the card machines.

Suddenly, "P1?" called George. Hermione walked over to where s masked George was standing next to a small wooden chest. "You know you asked me to find the Manticore spike powder dealer?"

Hermione nodded.

George opened the chest to reveal a glittery green powder. "Well I found the powder. The dead man must be our dealer."

XXX

Hermione trudged up the stairs to her apartment an hour later. Ron had said he'd be a little late. She was surprised to find Draco outside her door.

"Hermione! I was just about to knock," he said when he saw her. "I heard there was another attack."

She nodded grimly and unlocked her door, letting them both in. She sank onto the couch and filled him on the recent developments. "I talked to Harry too. He refused to let you back on the case," she finished with a sigh.

"Kevin Pritchard? There was a kid called Graham Pritchard a few years below me at Hogwarts. He was one of the nicer Slytherins and his family remained neutral during the war. Maybe he'll know more about this ring," mused Draco.

"Did you know if your mother's ring had any special powers?" Hermione asked gently.

Draco frowned slightly as he thought about it. "I don't really know. As far as I know, it was just a Black family heirloom. It was supposed to belong to the oldest daughter but since Andromeda wasn't a welcome part of the family and my grandmother favoured my mother, she got the ring. It's really old so I don't know much about it."

They sat in silence for a while. "Did you see the tabloid today?" Hermione said suddenly.

Draco smiled slightly, "It brought back memories. The papers could never get enough of us even when we were together, could they? How did Weasley take it?"

"He was upset."

"Hasn't changed much in seven years then," Draco smirked.

Hermione fiddled with the necklace she always wore, a little uncomfortable, "I guess not."

Draco looked at the necklace. "You kept it," he said quietly, recognizing the lion pendant.

"Well of course! It's quite valuable and-" She stopped talking when his hand closed over hers as she held the pendant. She was feeling the familiar butterflies in her stomach as his intense grey eyes met hers.

"Why did you _really_ keep it? _I_ broke up with _you_. You would have wanted to throw away everything I gave you," he said softly.

"I wanted to remember you," said Hermione, her voice equally soft. "I don't _want_ to forget you completely."

His thumb caressed her hand slowly. They leaned closer, almost unknowingly, inches away from each other's lips.

Draco's thumb moved across the metal band on her finger.

He moved back immediately. Hermione turned bright red as she realized what they'd nearly done.

"I should go," said Draco.

He nearly ran back to his room. "She's _engaged_, you idiot," he told himself firmly. He had wanted to kiss her so badly. He looked out of the window. It was raining cats and dogs now, just like it had been the first time he'd ever kissed her…

"_You idiot! Give me back my wand!" Hermione screamed._

"_Come and get it!" Draco yelled back over the pouring rain._

"_I'm soaked," complained Hermione when she finally caught up to him. "Why is it even raining at almost the end of November?"_

_Draco grinned as they made their way up to the castle slowly now that they were drenched anyway. He took her hand and Hermione felt her face go warm despite the cold. Of late, she had been more and more attracted to him, she'd made excuses to be around him more (ignoring Ginny's knowing looks) and she savoured the moments when they made physical contact. She'd happily agreed to join him for an hour's relaxation by the lake until it began to rain._

"_I hate getting wet," she grumbled._

"_Maybe you could make up a spell to make it stop raining," he suggested._

"_How about 'Rainus Stoppus?'" she asked sarcastically._

_It stopped raining._

_Draco stared at her incredulously. "Is that even a real spell?"_

"_I don't think so," said Hermione, uncertainly. _

_There was a bright flash of lightning and it started raining harder than before. Draco and Hermione stared at each other and then burst into laughter. _

"_Come on!" squealed Hermione, running up to the castle again._

_Draco ran after her and they stopped, gasping for breath when they reached the deserted Entrance Hall. Hermione put an arm on Draco's shoulder as she doubled up, half-gasping and half-laughing. The touch sent little tingles along their bodies. _

"_How is it I end up doing the most stupid, yet most fun things with you?" she said._

"_It's my irresistible charm," he smirked._

"_You know what? I actually found running through the rain with you strangely romantic. Ron and I always had the perfect dates in perfect weather." Hermione was fully aware that she had just insinuated that she considered the hour they'd spent together to be a date._

_Draco stared at her pink face, her dripping her and her muddy robes and thought she looked prettier than ever. He had understood the meaning in her words too and he was seized, as he had been many times recently, by a sudden urge to kiss her. He moved closer, "Weasley is _not_ romantic. Let go of your past."_

_She leaned in; both of them so very close now. "Maybe you can help me remember that."_

_He kissed her as she put her arms around his neck. Neither of them cared that their lips were cold as a strange, warm, content feeling overcame them. Hermione had never felt this way with Ron, she felt so much more _alive_. She drew back suddenly, her eyes concerned._

"_Wait. What if you're just a rebound for me?" _

_He hugged her despite the fact that they were soaked. "Do you really feel that way?"_

"_No."_

"_Then trust yourself. Everything will be fine."_

X-X-X

Hermione was still sitting on the couch when Ron returned. He smiled at her and then turned to put his cloak on the peg by the door. He frowned.

"Did you have any company?" he asked, holding out the silver cloak already hanging on the peg.

"Draco had dropped by," Hermione said, but her guilt must have shown on her face.

"I see. Was he in such a hurry to avoid me that he left his cloak behind?" Ron said coolly.

"What are you suggesting?" Hermione asked, a touch of coolness entering her own voice.

"What were you two doing?"

"We weren't _doing_ anything. We just talked about the case."

"The case wasn't interesting enough for him to leave so early."

"What are you suggesting? That he came over to take advantage of me?" Hermione snapped.

"It wouldn't be the first time he's tried to steal you away from me," Ron shot back, his voice rising.

"'Steal me away?' The last time, you and I weren't together! He wasn't _stealing_ me; I went out with him because I wanted to!" Hermione screamed.

"Yeah, well this time, you engaged to me! You could've told him to sod off. How is it you two always seem to 'run' into each other when I'm not around?" Ron yelled back.

"Oh I'm sorry, I'll just invite you the next time I _accidentally meet him_. I'm just waiting for destiny to call me and give me the details of our next encounter!" Hermione answered sarcastically. "He just wanted to talk, Ron."

"You _always _stick up for the git!" Ron shouted.

"He's my friend!"

"You haven't talked in five years!"

"He's still my friend."

"Does he feel the same way, though? At least you made an effort to talk to him for a few months. He didn't even bother last time."

Hermione glared at Ron. "Leave me alone!" She stormed into her room and slammed the door. A few minutes later, she heard Ron leave the apartment. Then, his voice floated down from the apartment above hers – Draco's.

"She's my fiancée. Stay away from her!" she heard Ron shout.

Her apartment door opened and shut as Ron returned. Tears ran down her face. She felt guilty about nearly kissing Draco. She felt even guiltier when she remembered wanting to do it. But she wanted him to hold her and stroke her hair and tell her to trust herself just as he had on a rainy evening just like this one.

She looked at the ring on her finger. She loved Ron that was why she was engaged to him. She had thought she was over Draco by now but seeing him again had brought back so many emotions and memories that she didn't _want_ to forget.

_But she loved Ron._ He got jealous and overprotective because he loved her too. But Draco made her feel special in a way Ron couldn't. The rain was getting heavier, as though reflecting her mood. "Rainus Stoppus," she muttered remembering that day from so many years ago. In just two days, Draco Malfoy had managed to change her life so much. But that was how he had always been. He had managed to go out with her in just two months of knowing her.

He was just…special.

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><p><em>I know the quote didn't really fit...Sorry if the last part was too angsty...I'll work on it next time..<em>

_Liked it? Hated it? Please let me know with a review! Five reviews again? :)  
><em>


	4. Chapter 4

_**Once again, thanks so much to all my lovely reviewers especially the ones who are reading this despite not being Dramione fans! Your reviews mean a lot to me and I'm so glad you all like this story so far. Thanks to everyone who read/ put this story on their alerts or favourites list too! I'm glad you all want to follow this story!**_

_**This is more of a filler chapter than anything, so I hope you like it!**_

_**Disclaimer : I don't own HP**_

* * *

><p>"Are you alright?" Ginny asked kindly looking at her friend.<p>

"No, I'm not," came Hermione's muffled voice from the cushion she had currently buried her head in. She had stayed home that day and Ginny and little James were giving her company.

"You know Ron's always had problems with jealousy. I'm sure if you two just talked-"

"It won't really help, Ginny. He's not even ready to listen. Draco's always been the villain to him," Hermione groaned. She turned over on the couch and looked at Ginny. "Do you think he'd be ready to listen if I put the full Body-Bind curse on him?"

Seventeen- month old James chuckled happily and pointed at Hermione. "Pwank," he giggled.

Ginny laughed. "He can already recognize a prank when he hears about one. I shouldn't have let Teddy teach him that word, it's already his favourite."

"Teddy!" said James clapping happily, recognizing the word.

Hermione smiled, but worry returned to her eyes again. "The thing is, Ginny, I don't know if I _want_ to tell Ron that there's nothing going on between me and Draco."

Ginny stared. "What do you mean?"

"It's just…I can feel the sparks again! When he touches me, when he laughs, when he's just _there_, it feels so good. I feel like I'm eighteen again. It feels like I always thought it would feel with Ron, but I only feel that way around Draco. I feel happy when he's around. With Ron, it just feels like…everyday. Like there's nothing new to us anymore. But with Draco…and that makes me feel guilty about Ron. I love him too. But then I feel like I'm still…in love…with Draco." Hermione trailed off on the last few words, catching Ginny's incredulous look.

"It's been five years since the git left. You can't still be in love with him!" But even as she said it, Ginny knew it wasn't entirely true. She had been around Hermione for those five years. Not a day had passed without Hermione mentioning or wondering about Draco.

"I know I shouldn't be…but it's all just so confusing! And I don't know whether he feels the same way. Sometimes it's like he does, but then he runs away again! I don't know what to think!" Hermione looked hysterical at this point.

Ginny sighed but before she could say anything, James who had been watching her with a rather worried expression crawled up the couch to Hermione. "It okay," he mumbled, patting her cheek with his small hand. Hermione smiled at that, and he gave her a wide, two-toothed grin in response, happy to have made his Aunt Hermione smile again.

The brunette hugged the little boy. "You're right, James. It will all be okay."

**X-X-X**

"_You're insane! Hippogriffs have _never_ liked you! What on earth possessed you to tackle a creature that large?" Hermione demanded._

_Draco sat up in his hospital wing bed. "It was running straight at you! It could have killed you," he argued._

"_You do know you're a wizard? Why did you think colliding with it, getting on its back and trying to steer it away from me would work? Why didn't you just stun it or something?"_

"_I don't know! All I knew was that I wasn't going to let a Hippogriff trample you."_

_Hermione's face softened, "You're crazy."_

"_Only about you," he smirked._

_She whacked his arm._

"_Miss Granger, I'd rather you didn't assault my patients, no matter how much they deserve it," Madam Pomfrey said, entering with a tray laden with potions._

"_Aren't you supposed to not insult your patients?" Draco asked indignantly._

"_Normally, yes. But when the patient ends up here with a set of broken ribs and myriad bruises because he forgot he had a wand and tried to tackle a Hippogriff, I'll make an exception," snapped the matron._

_She left them after making sure Draco swallowed all his potions. He rubbed his tongue in disgust. "She has the _worst_ tasting potions in the world," he complained._

_Hermione laughed and pulled some chocolate from her pocket, "Here" She offered it to him._

_He looked at her drowsily as the medicine started taking effect. "You're the best, you know that?"_

_She stroked his forehead lightly. "Get some sleep," she murmured and made to leave but Draco grabbed her hand suddenly._

"_I'll never let anything hurt you. I'll always keep you safe and happy. I promise."_

_She smiled and caressed his hand. "I know you'll always be there. Now get some rest."_

"_Will you be here in the morning?"_

"_Of course."_

Draco opened his eyes slowly. Sunlight was streaming in through his windows. He had been half-hoping to see Hermione's smiling face just as he had when he'd woken up in the hospital wing after his bad run-in with a Hippogriff in his seventh year. But, he knew it was all a memory, nothing more. He glanced at the cloak Weasley had thrown at him two nights ago. He was still in love with Hermione, that was obvious, but she was with Weasley now. He had no right to just squeeze into her life. He didn't want to ruin her happiness.

He picked up the paper and settled down with a cup of coffee. The front page was covered with news of the latest attack. He wanted to help and stupid Potter wouldn't let him. He turned the page, frustrated. He stared at the advertisement on the second page for a few minutes, he had been so stupid! He rushed to the bathroom to get ready.

**X-X-X**

"How is turning carrots blue an evil ritual?" demanded George Weasley in disbelief.

Luna leaned over and looked at the page of the thick book he was reading.

"They can be confused with Bluevons then, you know."

"What the heck are Bluevons now?"

"Bluevons look just like carrots, but they're blue. They're used to treat excessive nose hair but if you use carrots that are blue instead, the hair just grows thicker," Luna stated serenely.

George gaped at her, "Seriously?"

"That's not 'carrots', it's 'garnets' you idiot. Artificially blue garnets are used in some necromancy rituals," said Ginny glancing at the page herself.

"Oh. That makes more sense," shrugged George, "I hate translating Runes."

They were in Hermione's Auxilium office again, checking up on rituals involving old rings. So far, they'd found nothing more dangerous than a couple of Egyptian tomb-protection rituals. It didn't help that half the books were in Runes or had faded handwritten words.

Hermione sighed, "Take five, guys. This is useless."

Just then, the intercom on her desk beeped. "P1, we have someone here who wants to join Auxilium. We thought you might like to test him yourself."

"Send in his file," said Hermione curiously.

A file dropped in through a slot in the wall. Ginny picked it up. "He's an Auror. He's had quite a few successful cases too," she commented, flipping through it. She turned to the first page and grinned. "You'll want to test him yourself, P1."

She put the page on Hermione's desk. The older woman picked it up, looked at the name and smirked. She put her mask on and went to the door. "Right, let's see if our new recruit passes the test."

**X-X-X**

Draco had to admit, Auxilium had an excellent security system. He'd gone to the address of their enrolment office as mentioned in the ad. He'd given his details. Half an hour later, he had been blindfolded by two of the members and Apparated to what he assumed was their secret underground headquarters. After a short walk through the corridors, they'd shoved him in to a room and removed his blindfold. They had removed his wand right at the beginning.

The room had a large mirror on one wall. It was filled with training equipment and what he had learnt during Auror training to be Muggle hologram projectors and cameras were on the walls. He thought about Auxilium's past accomplishments and wondered if Hermione was a member too. After all, helping Muggles and wizards together couldn't get more effective or better than this. She would definitely have approved of Auxilium.

Suddenly, the door opened and one of the members entered. His eyes widened when he saw 'P1' inscribed on her badge. He had heard of the legendary female leader but had never met her on any of his cases though he had seen her at the crime scene.

"Draco Malfoy," she said. Her voice was vaguely familiar but she was using one of those voice-changing devices so he couldn't place it. "I've heard of you," she continued, "You're quite an accomplished Auror. I've even seen you around the crime scenes of our latest case once or twice though I don't believe I've had the pleasure of speaking to you before." She extended her hand and he shook it. "Why do you want to join Auxilium?" she asked.

"I want to help on this case – the one with all the unexplained attacks. The Aurors kicked me off it, so I want to join you," he replied.

"The Aurors had good reason though. You _are_ rather personally involved to be unbiased. And what will you do when the case is solved? Will you just turn you back on us once you get your old job back?"

Draco took a deep breath. "Someone very close to me once told me that she found joy in helping people. I had never really understood what she meant until I became an Auror. My family was nearly killed in the war and it made me immensely happy to be able to keep various other families intact by fighting against those who threatened them. In this case too, families, including mine have been torn apart. I want to help stop it. If I can't do it with the Aurors, I'll do it with you. If this case does come to an end and I become an Auror again, I will still help out here as much as I can. As for my personal involvement, I am a trained Auror, I can control my emotions."

Neville sighed in the observation room, "We shouldn't have let her test him."

Ginny looked a little touched when she realized that Draco had been repeating Hermione's words about helping people. "Why not?" she asked. "She'll still test him properly."

"Yes, but Harry was right. Hermione's too personally involved with Draco to be unbiased. She's already accepted him in her mind. The test is just a formality now, not the deciding factor as it should be," replied Neville, his eyes serious. He watched Hermione give Draco his wand and tell him about the test and how the projectors would be used to simulate various conditions which he would have to face. Neville's eyes were on the duel that commenced, but his mind was back at Hogwarts…

"_That's just too weird."_

"_I think it's a great show of inter-house trust," said Luna._

"_It's still weird," asserted Neville._

"_They love each other, Neville," smiled Ginny. "What you think doesn't really matter to them."_

"_They've only been together five months. How can they be in love?"_

"_I met Harry for five minutes when I was ten years old at King's Cross. I loved him ever since then."_

_Luna watched her two friends argue and then looked back at the couple settled in the shade of a tree on the school grounds. "I think Hermione's far happier looking that she was with Ron."_

"_Ron's definitely fond of her but he doesn't really understand Hermione," said Ginny, "I never thought I'd say this, but Draco Malfoy does seem to be the right guy for her."_

_They watched as Draco whispered something in Hermione's ear. They could see her blush even from the distance._

"_I agree with Ginny," Luna piped up unexpectedly. "Ron took Hermione for granted most of the time. It's nice to see Draco think up romantic dates and hold nice, long conversations with her. Even she said that he finds new ways to surprise her every day. Ron just never seemed to put in any effort compared to Draco."_

_Neville noticed that the couple on the grounds looked at each other the same way Harry and Ginny did._

"_Let's face it, Neville. They'll be together for a long time," said Ginny._

But, thought Neville, they had broken up after a year. They had remained friends for a while later and then for unknown reasons, they had stopped speaking to each other. Neville hadn't expected that. He had also realized that they indeed loved each other and it came as a surprise to him when Hermione had accepted Ron's proposal.

"Congratulations." Hermione's voice jolted Neville out of his thoughts and he looked through the glass. "You've done well in all the situations we simulated while dueling. You are now an official member of Auxilium, Draco Malfoy. Your skill level will be assessed and you'll be assigned a rank by which you will be addressed in future. Please step into the room next door to complete the formalities."

She left the room to join the others in the observation room.

"You're still better than him," grinned Ginny, "I loved it when you disarmed him and point your wand at his throat."

"He's good enough to make it into the top ten ranks," George admitted grudgingly.

"Maybe he can help us with our ring ritual search. He does have a lot of Wrackspurts zooming around his head," Luna added.

Hermione turned to Neville. "Well?"

"He'll make a good addition to the team," he admitted finally. "But we'll have to keep an eye on him. We have to protect him from his own mistakes."

**X-X-X**

"Hermione!" She turned at the sound of her name to find Draco waving at her from Sugarplum's Sweet Shop. "Hi," she said as he caught up to her.

"Heading back to the Leaky Cauldron? I was just going that way myself," he said, smiling broadly.

"You're in a good mood," she noted.

"Yeah I am. Here" He rummaged around in the bag in his hand and held out a small box of chocolate to her.

She opened it and grinned delightedly. "Cream filled bonbons! My favourite!"

"I had some good news today. I thought I'd get these for you because, though you don't know it, you helped me get my good news."

"Care to share?"

He hesitated, "Sorry, it's a little personal."

Hermione was glad he kept his acceptance to Auxilium a secret. That was the first rule all members had to abide by. "That's alright. I won't pry."

They strolled down the street, oblivious to the world, chatting in a carefree way. When they reached the pub, Draco turned to face her. "Hermione, are you happy with Weasley?"

She was thrown by the sudden question. "What?"

"You heard me."

"Of course I am. I love him. I wouldn't be engaged to him otherwise."

"Are – are you sure about that?"

Hermione hesitated. Why was he asking this? Did he suspect that she still had feelings for him? Although, she had never actually tried to hide it. "Yes…"

"Oh. Well, I hope you enjoy your chocolates." He was gone before Hermione could say anything.

Tears stung her eyes as she stomped her way up to Ginny's apartment, utterly confused as she poured out the whole story to her. After making her upset friend a cup of tea and reassuring her that everything would be alright, Ginny sent her back to her own apartment. The minute Harry came home; she left him in charge of James and ran up to Draco's apartment.

He let her in, surprised, but before he could even greet her, she had pushed him onto his couch, put a silencing charm on the door and pointed her wand threateningly at him.

"Okay, Malfoy, what are you playing at? First, you don't talk to Hermione for five years. Now, circumstances bring you two together again. You go out for a late lunch with her and you're talking happily and then you suddenly run away. Next, you turn up at her house, nearly kiss her, and run away again. _Now_ you give her a box of her favourite chocolates, ask her serious, heartfelt questions and run away _yet again_. You still look at her the way you used to at Hogwarts. What are you trying to tell her? That you still love her? And yet you keep running away! What is she supposed to think? You're just destabilizing her whole, happy world with false hopes of the life you two once had when she finally thinks she's found someone who'll stick with her. Do you know how guilty she's feeling about getting her hopes up at all? For once in your sorry life, stop running away and tell her exactly how you really feel!" Ginny finished her speech by screaming the last part at Draco.

"I keep running away because your brother asked her out first. She wanted to go back to him. She loves him," Draco answered, cowering under Ginny's furious look.

"Michael Corner was the first guy to ask me out. I'm married to Harry though, aren't I?" Ginny shot back. "You just don't love her enough to tell her and you're playing some sort of game that's ruining her life!"

"Don't you _dare_ say that," Draco snapped, his voice shaking with anger.

"Well stop blaming Ron for being engaged to her. It's obvious you both still have feelings for each other. She's desperately trying to forget them because you don't seem to reciprocate!" Ginny snapped.

Draco glared at her and then pulled out a small box the size of a matchbox from his pocket. He put it on the table between them and enlarged it with a tap of his wand. "Here," he said, pushing the box towards her, "don't you ever accuse me of not loving her again."

Ginny opened the box curiously. It was filled with newspaper clippings about Hermione. More recent news was on the top. Articles about her Ministry work, events she'd attended, fundraisers she'd organized, every article from every newspaper from the last five years was in the box. An announcement of her engagement had been ripped up and then Spellotaped badly again.

Below the papers were photographs of Draco and Hermione from their years together. There were letters, old movie tickets with the print long gone and even a few candy wrappers. Ginny recognized a book that Hermione had once bought as a present for Draco.

"You've kept _everything_ that has to do with her. You've been following her progress, her life, even when you weren't even in the country for a year," said Ginny softly.

"I've always kept an eye on her and made sure she was safe and happy. Just like I promised her long ago," he replied. The anger in his eyes was replaced by tenderness.

Ginny took out a small velvet box from the very bottom of the big box. Inside was a small gold band encrusted with emeralds and rubies. "An engagement ring?"

"I thought she would be a distraction when I had Auror training. That's why I broke up with her. But I couldn't stand just being friends. I thought I'd ask her out again and then propose to her. But I was too late. I'd planned that night so well and she told me Ron had apologized and she wanted to accept his apology and give him another chance. I waited too long." Draco sounded extremely sad.

"That's when you stopped talking to her! You didn't interact with her for five years – until now," said Ginny. "You're a real idiot, you know that? She was under so much pressure from everyone to get together with Ron. She did it because she thought you didn't care anymore. But now she really does love Ron. You screwed up, big time."

"Rub it in, why don't you?" grumbled Draco.

Ginny's eyes softened. "Listen, you still love her and I'd be lying if I said she's given up on you. I know I should be supporting Ron, but I care about Hermione. She's the sister I'd always wanted. I know that only you can give her the kind of happiness Harry gives me. There's still time."

"Thanks Ginny."

Ginny turned to leave and then stopped at the door, smirking. "You know, that box of yours may make you incredibly romantic, but it also makes you a bit of a stalker. Make sure Ron doesn't see it. Ever."

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><p><strong><em>Sorry about the rather boring chapter. It was supposed to be about their conflicting feelings because I thought that part of the story was being swallowed up by the adventure but it ended up being not so good. The next chapter will have MUCH more story! <em>**

**_Please review and let me know if you think I can improve this story in any way! Your feedback is really appreciated!_**


	5. Chapter 5

_**Once again, thanks for all your lovely reviews! Thanks to everyone who alerted/favourited/read this story too. I'm glad that so many of you are liking it. I know I thanked every reviewer here in the first two chapters, but I decided to put your names in a 'thank you' chapter at the end instead...**_

_**This is a slightly shorter chapter since this story itself has only about 7 chapters left, I didn't want to make it too long...**_

_**Disclaimer : I don't own HP.**_

_**Please review!**_

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><p><em>Draco's mouth fell open when he saw Hermione. They had been going out for nearly a year now and he still hadn't appreciated how beautiful she was. When she made an effort to dress up, the effect left him (and most other men) speechless.<em>

_He held out his hand wordlessly. She smiled, understanding his dazed state and let him lead her to the Ministry car waiting outside. A short drive later, they were near the hall where the first anniversary of Voldemort's defeat would be celebrated._

_"I can't believe I'm attending this particular event with you of all people," commented Hermione._

_He kissed the back of her hand. "It just shows how far we've come."_

_She tensed as the lights of the paparazzi flashed through the tinted windows of their car. "We'll cause such a stir," she said, worried._

_He squeezed her hand reassuringly. "You don't have to be scared of them. One wrong move, and I'll hex them into the next century." Draco couldn't keep the protective growl out of his voice but Hermione didn't mind._

_She finally voiced what was really bothering her. "Ron will be there. Everyone will expect us to talk to each other."_

_Draco looked deep into her eyes and said the only words he knew would reassure her. "I love you. And I'll hex Weasley too if he makes a wrong move."_

_"I love you too, Draco."_

_In minutes, they had fought their way through the crowd of reporters and made it inside. A group of redheads swarmed around them, greeting them jovially. Standing away from the group however, were Ron and Harry._

_Hermione excused herself from the Weasleys and Draco and made her way over to the two men. "Hello," she said nervously._

_Harry pulled her into a beat hug and then looked pointedly at Ron._

_Ron cleared his throat. "Er, hi Hermione. Look I'm sorry about what happened last year. I'm sorry I sent the ferret a box of Venomous Tentacula seeds disguised as chocolates."_

_"Get to the point Ronald."_

_"Look, I'm just _really_ sorry. I can see you're happy with the fe-Draco-and I'm just hoping you'll forgive me and from this significant night, we can be best friends again."_

_Hermione's eyes moistened as she hugged Ron. "We're meant to be vest friends," she sniffed._

_The evening passed quickly. Hermione and Draco danced their feet off. They cried when they remembered all the sacrifices everyone had made during the war. Draco kept hovering whenever Ron and Hermione were talking, much to Harry and Ginny's amusement._

_At around ten in the night, an owl swooped in and deposited a letter in Mr. Weasley's lap. He opened it curiously and then, eyes sparkling with proud tears, he announced to the group of Weasleys, Harry, Hermione and Draco, "We have a new Weasley in the family. Victoire Isabelle Weasley."_

_Hermione and Draco cheered with the rest. In the midst of the celebration, they looked at each other and knew that someday, they wanted to send a letter like that to their parents. Someday they wanted to share, together, the joy that Bill and Fleur did at the moment."_

"Hello P6."

Draco nearly jumped out of his skin. "P1!" he exclaimed, collecting his thoughts. "I was just looking over the latest file on the case."

"Find anything interesting?" She was sitting disturbingly close to him. Her hand brushed his as she took the file from him.

"No, nothing yet," he answered, cautiously edging away from her.

Hermione was amused. She enjoyed seeing his discomfort since he didn't know who she was. "Would you like to join me for lunch in our cafeteria? You could tell me more about yourself," she suggested, her hand resting over his.

He gathered up his files quickly. "Er, sorry but I'll have to take a rain check." He nearly fled, to Hermione's amusement.

Their life outside Auxilium however, was far more relaxed. Draco took Ginny's advice and was trying to openly show Hermione he still loved her. He bought her things and made an excuse or directly asked her to go out with him in the evenings.

They sat outside Florean Fortescue's ice cream parlour one evening.

"How do you eat peanuts in you ice cream?" Draco asked distastefully.

"I like it," Hermione said through a mouthful."How's your new job going?"

He had told her he'd got a job in a research facility which wasn't entirely untrue. "We haven't made much progress but I like the job. It keeps me on my toes. The leader of by group slightly scares me though, she keeps trying to flirt."

"Well, why don't you go out with her then?"

He placed his hand over her fingers, bringing her spoon to his own lips. "Because I like someone else." He shuddered. "I hate peanuts."

Hermione gave him a small, teasing smile. This was a game they'd played too often in the past couple of weeks. "Am I ever going to know this mystery woman's name?"

"No but it's as beautiful as yours," he replied smoothly.

"If _you_ like her, she must be lovely."

"More so than that princess in the Muggle fairytale you made me read."

They had both leaned in; identical, teasing smirks on their lips. "How much would you say you like her?"

Draco replied instantly, his fingers playing with Hermione's. "I love her as much as I hate peanuts."

She laughed at that and her laughter took them both back to a memory of their time at Hogwarts…

_Hermione laughed as Draco slid his counter down yet another snake on the board game they had spread out on the table. "You really have an affinity for snakes!" _

"_That's not fair! I've slid down that one thrice now. I bet you've rigged this," he complained._

_She poked him lightly on the nose. "_You_ just don't like losing." Wizard Snakes and Ladders was much more fun since the snakes and ladders changed positions just before each player rolled the dice._

"_Aha! Another ladder!" Hermione moved to the penultimate row on the board._

_Draco rolled next. "Ha, a six! I get to roll again. Please let it be a four," he prayed, eyeing the ladder that would take him ahead of Hermione. He rolled again. "Another six? Please let it be a three this time." He crossed his fingers as the dice rolled along the table, teetering between three and six before finally settling on – _

"_Yes! Another six! Three sixes make you stay where you are!" Hermione cried jubilantly. _

"_I bet you made it roll to six somehow! It was going to land on three," argued Draco. _

_She gave him a superior look. "I don't need to cheat to win."_

_He flicked his hand against the dice ever so slightly, making it fall over the edge of the table. She sighed and bent over to pick it up and then rolled it. _

"_Ha! You got a snake, you got a snake," Draco sang triumphantly._

_Hermione frowned at the board. "Wait, wasn't my counter two rows higher up? You cheater, you moved it!"_

"_I did not!"_

_She tackled him to the ground and sat on him. "Admit it, you did."_

"_Ow! Get off me you crazy witch. I did it, okay?" _

_She smiled smugly at him and got of. He immediately hit her with a tickling charm. "Haha-Draco-hehe- make –haha – it stop!" She wiggled around, trying to reach her own wand._

"_Say you're sorry," he teased/._

"_Alright, alright – haha – I'm sorry!" she wheezed between bouts of clear laughter. _

_He took the charm off her and helped her to her feet. He kissed her forehead softly. "I'll do my best to make you laugh like that every single day."_

Hermione returned to her apartment smiling widely. In the last two weeks, she had spent a _lot_ of time with Draco. Every evening, they could be found at a shop in either Diagon Alley or Muggle London. She was happier than she had been in a long time and all the butterflies in her stomach that she had not had around Ron for so long returned when she was with Draco.

She opened the door and a sense of dread took over as she saw Ron standing there, glaring at her.

"What?" she asked roughly.

"Been out with _Malfoy_ again, were you?" he said in the same tone.

"Yes," she replied curtly.

"He sent these." Ron moved aside to reveal a large bouquet of red roses. Hermione picked it up tenderly, inhaling both the roses' and Draco's lingering scent. "You let him into Auxilium too."

"He's a valuable addition."

"Have you ever thought that Harry might have sent him off the case because he suspects him?"

Hermione gave him a withering look. "You, Ronald, are the only one who thinks that. And Harry says _I'm_ biased about Draco."

"I don't want you hanging around him so much!" Ron yelled suddenly.

"What's your problem? I enjoy his company!" Hermione yelled back, the tension in the room reaching breaking point.

"My _problem_ is that you're engaged to me! He wants to be more than your friend. He sent you red roses for Merlin's sake!"

"We've been engaged for _two_ years. In all that time, you've never showed any signs of actually wanting to marry me. Most days, I feel like you keep me around because you get a free housekeeper! Draco showed signs of wanting to marry me when we were barely twenty! In the two years we've been engaged, you've brought me flowers fewer times than there are roses in this bouquet. We've gone out to dinner even lesser times. I'll admit, you've made more of an effort than you used to in school, but you just don't seem to care enough. Draco sent me flowers. You didn't bother to conjure up a bigger, prettier bunch. He's finding the time to go out with me in the evenings. When was the last time you came home early or took me on a weekend holiday? In fact, when was the last time we went on a _date_? I'm sorry, but being engaged doesn't mean that you can take it for granted that I'll love you unconditionally when you hardly make an effort to show me that you love me too," Hermione said. Her voice had been low, but dangerous.

Ron looked hurt. "Does that mean you don't love me anymore?"

"It means that Draco's beginning to mean far more to me than you do."

Before Ron could speak, the door opened and Harry rushed in.

"We have to go. There's been an attack on a Muggle family in the suburbs." Harry was gone as fast as he came in.

Hermione and Ron glared at each other for a few seconds before Disapparating. Hermione was a few minutes late as she had to change into her Auxilium uniform. Once again, the house wasn't burning. But this time, it didn't even look as though it had been set on fire. She rushed to Harry who looked rather ill. Ron was in the house with the Hit Wizards, securing the building.

"Is P2 here?" Harry asked urgently.

"Not yet. I just sent a message to Auxilium. He'll be here any minute," she replied.

"Go back and tell him not to come."

"Why – oh!" Hermione looked rather nauseous herself, as she caught sight of their latest victims. They weren't dead, but…

"P1! There you are!"

"No, P2, go back to headquarters-" Hermione began but she was too late. Neville saw the Muggle couple propped up against the wall. They were in their mid-forties. The woman was giggling uncontrollably while poking at a frog in the grass. The man was studying the brick wall, occasionally nodding at it as though it was giving a lecture. They showed no recognition of each other though the rings on their fingers were proof of their marriage.

Hermione couldn't see Neville's face through the mask, but she knew it wouldn't be pretty. "They've been driven insane," croaked Neville.

"By the Cruciatus curse," Harry confirmed, also watching Neville carefully.

Hermione gripped his wrist tightly. "They're Muggles," Neville said, his voice hard. "They wouldn't even have been able to defend themselves."

Harry looked at them both. "We have to find Rabastan Lestrange. He's the only one who would do something like this. He would have picked up the idea from his sister-in-law," he said, bitterly.

An Auror appeared behind him. "Auror Potter, we just received a message from the Ministry. The Keepers of the Hall of Records have found one set of documents to be missing."

Harry and Hermione Disapparated to the Ministry immediately. The Head Keeper took them to a table in the middle of the Hall. The place was still messy, it had been impossible to finish cleaning it in the ten day deadline that Ron had given them earlier.

"P1, Auror Potter, these are the birth records for the 20th century," the Head Keeper said, indicating the stack of parchment on the table. The records for the years 1970 to 1979 are missing," he reported.

"Doesn't St. Mungo's have a copy?" Hermione demanded.

"We checked with them but they only record births that happened at the hospital. We can check with local hospitals but whoever took the records can't be traced if they were born anywhere other than a hospital."

Harry nodded, "Check with local Muggle hospitals too. Any clue to our miscreant's identity will be useful." He turned to Hermione. "Has there any been any luck with the ring rituals? Our most recent victims, the Rogers, also had a couple of rings removed from their fingers."

She shook her head. "We don't have a single lead."

X-X-X

"****My Lady, do you think it was _wise_ to let them know we took the birth records? They might find out-"

"You worry too much, Robards," the woman interrupted. "My birth is recorded nowhere else other than those records."

"I could have kept them in the dark," Robards insisted, "I _am_ in charge of the cleanup of the Hall of Records after all."

"That won't be necessary. In a way, I_ want_ to take credit for this. You will let them discover the other missing documents soon. By the time they finally figure it out, they will be too late," she hissed.

"Should I keep the newest rings safe?"

She snorted derisively. "Throw them away! I have no need for such Muggle trinkets. I have the one ring I wanted." She rubbed the ring she'd taken from the traitorous Black. "These are merely to ensure that the Mudblood doesn't catch on to our plan. A simple distraction."

"What about the next location, my lady? When will we go there?"

"Patience, Robards. The next one is not a house. We need to carefully plan our strategy, especially since the Aurors and Auxilium will realize what we're up to the minute we take the next victim. But before that, there is another task we have to finish."

"Another task?" Robards asked, surprised.

"Yes. Come, we have to plan a house-call."

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><p><strong><em>Liked it? Hated it? Tell me what you thought with a review! As always, feedback is much appreciated!<em>**

**_At least five reviews again please?_ _:)_**


	6. Chapter 6

**_Thank you all once again for your reviews! I love __waking up in the morning and checking if I have any. It really feels nice to see an inbox with so many review/alert/favourite alerts! Thanks to everyone who's read or put this story on their alerts/ favourites lists!_**

**_I hope you like this chapter too!_**

**_Disclaimer : I don't own HP_**

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><p>"How's Ron?" Ginny asked.<p>

"Grumpy and acting as mature as a five-year-old," Hermione grunted.

"He's his normal self then," Ginny joked.

Hermione gave her a grudging smile. "He refuses to talk about our argument, so far, and even _after_ yelling at him, he hasn't bothered to send me a begonia, much less a bunch of roses."

Ginny smiled, "Yeah, I remember Draco and his gentlemanly ways. He always brought you something, even if it was only a piece of candy that cost two Knuts."

Hermione agreed with Ginny. Even on the day they'd broken up, he'd given her something – a promise…

"_What's that?" Hermione asked, looking at the sheet of parchment Draco had been fiddling with for the last two weeks. It was nearly the end of February. They had been together for fifteen months – the longest for either of them – and they were completely in love._

_Draco looked nervous as he answered her. "The Auror Academy was very impressed with my grades. Training begins next month and they welcomed me into the program."_

"_That's wonderful!" Hermione exclaimed. "Now you can finally prove to the world that you've really reformed."_

_He moved to sit beside her, taking her hand gently. "They'll give me a harder time at the Academy than the other trainees. I'll need to work extra hard to prove myself there."_

_Hermione understood what he was trying to say; his eyes were sad and reluctant. "You can't have me take up your time," she said softly._

"_I'll have to stay there all day. They even have accommodations in case your studies need you to work late. A relationship _needs_ time. If I can't see you, it'll be tough to make it work," he said gently._

"_We could try it. It would be like a long distance relationship." Hermione knew it wouldn't work but she really wanted him to be with her._

"_You're starting your job at the Ministry soon too. We'll both need to focus on our careers for a while, sweetheart. But if you really want to, I'll give it a shot."_

_Hermione looked into his eyes. She could see the hope that she would insist on a relationship in them. She could see the sadness and knew that this was hurting him as much as it did her. But, she could also see his determination and resolve to do well and become one of the best Aurors. Ron had tried to stop her going back to Hogwarts. As much as it hurt, it would be selfish and hypocritical of her to stop Draco from following his dream. If she really loved him, she would let him go. She knew she would only be a distraction in a time when his only focus should be his studies. _

_She kissed him gently, knowing it would be the last, at least for a while. "Go, Draco. Make me proud."_

"_I will, Hermione. One day, I'll come back to you, I promise. I love you."_

**X-X-X**

"Getting in was easier than I expected," said the younger man.

Robards snorted. "An Auror's pass will get you anywhere, boy. Not to mention we're supposed to be trustworthy now."

"In fact, I think our master's task is far harder. It's easy for her to tell us to find a single stone in a forest." The boy grimaced. "Finding the proverbial needle in the haystack would have been easier."

"If you stopped complaining and started searching, you might actually find it," commented Robards. He hated being stuck with this kid, he was too smart _and_ sarcastic.

"On top of it all, the woman won't tell us what the stone's called and gives us a picture instead. We can't even Summon it this way!"

Robards remained silent and continued searching.

"Merlin's beard, is that a spider egg? It's huge!"

Robards turned around to find the boy moving towards a large white egg surrounded by webs. "Don't be fool enough to touch it! There's no telling _what_ lives in here."

The boy withdrew his hand quickly. "What's so special about this stone anyway?" he asked, not making a move to search for it.

Robards lost his patience. "For the love of Merlin, stop your incessant chatter and do what you're told. We are to serve the Lady, not question her. I don't know _why_ she keeps you around at all!"

The boy's eyes hardened. "You know very well that while you give her information from the Ministry's rumour mill, being in the low position that you are in, _I_ give her information from the cream of both Auxilium and the Aurors. Bear in mind Robards, that I am more valuable to her than you are." The boy bent down and picked up a small stone. "I believe this is what we're looking for," he said contemptuously as he tossed it to Robards.

The older man examined it, comparing to the picture he had. It was the stone all right. He looked at the boy with hatred. It wasn't fair that such a young _boy_ got to have what he didn't. "Let's go," he said curtly.

**X-X-X**

Draco lay on his bed in the Leaky Cauldron. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. It was a Sunday and Auxilium had no new leads so they hadn't called in their members. Hermione hadn't accepted his invitation to lunch that afternoon. He had thought Weasley might have stopped her but he knew that Potter had all the Aurors working on the weekends too. Had she chosen Weasley over him, then? Had he waited too long, again?

_Draco's eyes kept going to the window. It was the first week at Auror Academy. It had only been two hours since he'd answered Hermione's letter but he wanted a reply already. He wanted to see her writing and hear her voice in his mind as he read her letter. He was having a harder time focusing on his studies than he'd expected. He thought about her far too often…_

_They were still best friends two months after their breakup. But to Draco's worry, she seemed to be reconciling with Ron…_

_He had realized he loved her too much not to have her around. It was nearly October now. He had gathered from her first few letters that she had been having a hard time without him as well. He had found Auror training to be quite easy once he'd got the hang of it. He hadn't had the excuse of "no time for a relationship" for six months now and he knew Hermione knew it too. Her letters now contained news of happiness and fun. Ron Weasley featured in them far too often for his liking…_

"_What's with the fancy restaurant?" Hermione asked. She looked more beautiful than ever. It was close to the end of October now. It was a special day for Draco. He had decided he needed her in his life all the time. He was planning to ask her to marry him. At the very least, she would agree to go out with him again. He fingered the ring in his pocket nervously. His father had always told him that the woman who made him nervous was the right one._

"_Oh, I thought it would be nice to have a memorable evening," he said, trying his best to appear nonchalant. _

_She smiled at him. The evening passed quickly. To both of them, it felt just like the old times when they went on a date. They were just done with dessert when Draco decided to ask her the question he felt his life depended on._

"_Hermione, you need to know something," he began, his eyes serious. One hand was still in his pocket, clenched around the ring._

_Hermione seemed oblivious to his nervousness. "Wait, before you tell me your news, I want to tell you something first." She looked nervous too. "Yesterday, Ron _really_ apologized to me. He said he was truly sorry about fighting with me. He said he understands that I was right about going back to Hogwarts and that he probably didn't deserve me, but he asked if I would go out with him again."_

_Draco's heart skipped a beat. His fist tightened around the ring, wanting to thrust it at her and apologise for having waited so long. "What did you say?" he asked, his voice impossibly calm._

"_I…well I know that you _have_ had the time but we haven't gone out for ages…so…I said..yes."_

_Only the years he had spent with Voldemort in the house, perfecting the art of never betraying his emotions kept his face from breaking down just as his heart did. _

"_But we're only giving it a try! I could always stop after one date if you-" Hermione began, seeing some of the pain in Draco's eyes and looking hopeful._

_He interrupted. "No, it's alright. It's a good thing really. You deserve to be happy. I was just trying to say that I'm leaving for Bulgaria next week. We have a six-month internship opportunity there. I signed up for the experience." He knew he'd regret it, but he'd said it. He had been too late and that was all. He had let her down. He hadn't kept the promise he had given her when they'd split up. Weasley was taking the initiative for once. That obviously made him the better man._

_The next morning, Draco had signed up for the Bulgarian program. He was gone at the end of the week. Hermione had written to him of course, but his replies were always short and formal. Eventually, she'd given up. He'd kept an eye on her, even from Bulgaria, but he had no idea that Hermione had never given up on him either._

Until now. Draco remembered what Ginny Weasley had told him when he'd explained to her why he had made that mistake five years ago. He had confessed that he wished he'd stayed back. She had given him some uncharacteristic wisdom.

"_You know what, Malfoy? The better man is the one who takes the plunge despite the odds, not the coward who runs away. Your pureblood upbringing has left you with some archaic ideas of first come first serve when it comes to relationships and some strange ideas of honour and nobility and gracefully conceding defeat. But that's wrong. Today, if you really want something, you have to fight for it," _she had said.

Well, he was fighting now. He had thought he was being successful. He would ask Hermione to tea that evening. Ginny was right. He just had to fight.

One floor below, Ginny and Hermione were raiding Hermione's closet.

"What happened to all your evening dresses?" Ginny demanded.

"I threw most of them out. I can't fit into most of those clothes anyway!" said Hermione.

"The War Museum's grand opening is next Monday. Today's the 24th of April and you don't have a dress!"

"Merlin Ginny, I still have a week to find a decent dress," Hermione protested.

Ron cleared his throat from the doorway, surprising them both. He wasn't expected back till the night. "Hermione, can I talk to you?" he said.

Ginny was out of the room in a flash.

Ron sat down beside Hermione, looking awkward. "I'm sorry I haven't been paying much attention to you."

"You haven't been paying attention for the last two years," Hermione said stiffly.

"Listen," said Ron. "I didn't realize you wanted so much from me."

Hermione sighed. "I don't want _much_ from you. I just want your time. When you apologized and asked me out five years ago, you promised you would try to change. It seems I only find men who don't honour their promises."

"It's hard having to make so much of an effort for you."

"I did it for you. I made an effort to keep our relationship going when we were searching for Horcruxes. I made an effort through your career. I even made an effort to make you jealous when Lavender Brown was in the picture!"

"But you're _you._ You just know how to do all that," said Ron.

"You haven't made the effort to learn in five years. Even after I yelled at you yesterday, you haven't given me a blade of grass, much less flowers. If you won't even learn when I try to teach you, what's the point? I can't spell out everything for you all the time, Ronald," Hermione said quietly.

Ron looked away. "Can we talk about this tomorrow? I need to think things over."

"Of course," she replied gently.

She left the apartment and went out to Diagon Alley, needing some air. She immediately ran into Draco.

"Are you alright? You look a little pale," he observed.

"I'm fine. I'm sorry I couldn't make it to lunch. Ginny insisted on going through my wardrobe for the War Museum's opening. She said something about seven being a lucky number for us and it being a special occasion," Hermione said, trying to smile.

"That's okay. I know how hard it is to refuse Ginny, especially when she has you at wandpoint. Do you want to join me for tea? I hear Madam Puddifoot's opened a new branch here," he joked.

Hermione smiled weakly. They had had one disastrous date at the teashop after which they had never set foot in it again. "Anywhere but there," she said.

Once again, she marveled at how easy it was to be with Draco and go out with him. The familiar teen-like excitement filled her when he held her hand.

"Hermione," he said, almost thoughtfully. "Am I too late this time?"

The question didn't confuse her. She knew what he meant instantly because she had been thinking about it too. "No," she replied, "not yet."

**X-X-X**

Not far away, Gawain Robards sank into the only chair in his dingy apartment in Knockturn Alley. People thought Aurors made huge amounts of money every month. They were only thinking about the higher-up in the office then.

His master hadn't shown a bit of appreciation when he'd presented the stone to her. Sometimes, he felt he should tell the Aurors everything he knew, everything about the attacks. But then, he saw his living conditions and his belief in his master's cause returned.

Everyone thought that the werewolves and house-elves and muggleborns had come off worst in the war. They were wrong. It was people like himself who had suffered in the long term : people, who had done what they had to; people who had lied and blackmailed because it was the only way to survive.

For two years, under Scrimgeour, he had lived comfortably. He had a dangerous job, true, but he knew Voldemort wasn't foolish enough to face the Aurors. Then, when the Ministry fell, he had been given two choices : be killed, or pretend everything was dandy and do nothing to stop the Death Eaters and keep his life and his paycheck. He'd taken the easy way out.

It was his life and a few lies about how the Aurors were doing everything they could to thwart Voldemort had ensured his survival. Who cared about the hundreds dying out there because of his department's lack of action? As a former Hufflepuff, he supposed he should have been loyal to the people. _"Screw Houses," _he had thought, back then, "_This is life and death"_

Soon, he became accustomed to being paid for no work. He was alive and reasonably well-off.

Then, the Potter boy and his band of idealists had taken all that away from him. The boy defeated the Dark Lord and waltzed into the Ministry, taking over _his_ job. He became Head Auror without a single one of the qualifications Robards had toiled for years to attain. The boy hadn't even finished school and now, he had Robards' job!

Since Robards hadn't been directly involved with the Dark Side and the Ministry had been short on staff, they'd just demoted him to Senior Auror. This meant a considerably smaller salary and his luxurious life had fallen apart. All thanks to that _boy_.

He considered this highly unjust. People like the Malfoys and Xeno Lovegood were forgiven for their moments of weakness and welcomed back into society because the Wizengamot had decided that they were only trying to survive. Well, so had he. Maybe he hadn't done anything noble or ensured Potter's success but he was also a survivor. He'd been shunted to the side. So had hundreds of Ministry workers who had respected and feared the wisdom of keeping the status quo and turned a blind eye to the Death Eaters and their cronies.

He'd been humiliated when he was stripped off his rank and office. He had been reduced to close to poverty. The Potter boy had been the cause. He would pay.

He craved the comfortable life again. He hadn't realized he had been so obvious though. One day, three years ago, a young woman had approached him. She had told him of her plans that would help him regain his status and position and money. She could bring his old, happy world back with his help and he would be even more comfortable than he'd ever been.

They had begun their research. They had made a few mistakes along the way, they had killed the wrong people in the beginning, searching for the answers they wanted. But now, they were nearly there. They would succeed and this time, again, Robards would survive.

Harry Potter would not.

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><p><em><strong>I hope you liked the Robards part. I just wanted to show why he was on the bad side being an Auror and all...Sorry about the rather angsty bits with Draco, Hermione and Ron. I wanted to show that Ron and Hermione are both considering the idea of her being with Draco as the better thing...I'm not sure how well I managed to do that...<strong>_

_**Tell me what you thought about this chapter! Please leave me a review!**_

_**Can I get at least five reviews again please? The next few chapters are when the adventure really starts off! :)  
><strong>_


	7. Chapter 7

_**Thanks to everyone who reviewed (I was hoping for more, though!) A big thank you to everyone who read or put this story on their alerts/ favourites list too!**_

_**Please read and review!**_

_**Disclaimer : I don't own HP**_

* * *

><p><em>May 26th, 2005, Tuesday<em>

Ron never did broach the subject of Malfoy again and simply walked away when Hermione brought up the subject. But, he became increasingly thoughtful and moody which annoyed everyone around him. Draco, on the other hand, became increasingly cheerful around Hermione.

"Well this is a surprise," said Hermione, staring at Draco and the bouquet of white roses in his hand. "You _never_ visit me at work."

He smirked. "That's because I never come into the office."

"How much paperwork is piled up on your desk? I'm surprised Harry hasn't taken action against you for not finishing your paperwork."

"Well that's partly why I'm here. I have a backlog of three cases to cover and I thought I might as well do that if I can't work on the current one."

"Just three?" Hermione asked, surprised.

He rolled his eyes. "Just because I don't do it _here_, doesn't mean I never do it. I'm well aware that my job is important."

She nodded. That was how he'd been at Hogwarts too. He was one of those people who never appeared to study but actually did and proved it by nearly topping the class. She'd always beaten him though.

"I got you something else too," he added, setting the flowers down and handing her a book, noticing with some satisfaction that she was still wearing the lion pendant. She took it and gasped.

"_Where_ did you find a signed copy of Robinson Crusoe? It must be ancient!"

"There was an auction in London last week. I knew you loved the book, so I picked it up," he said.

She stared at the book in awe, while he looked at the papers on her desk. "Don't the Aurors have any clue as to who may have been born in the timeline of the missing records?"

She sighed. "No. The problem is, we don't even know what we're looking for. The answer could be staring us in the face and we wouldn't know it."

Draco cleared his throat uncomfortably. Before he could say anything, a resounding 'BOOM' shook the office. They ran out and were joined by other occupants of the floor.

"What's going on?" Hermione asked a passing clerk.

"I don't know. I think something exploded on the other end of the corridor."

"The other end – Draco, it's from the Hall of Records!"

The two of them rushed to the Hall, joined by Harry, Ron and a few other Aurors on the way. Smoke was billowing out of the Hall. Robards and some of the Keepers stood outside, coughing.

"Robards!" Harry called. "What happened?"

"I don't know! One moment, everything was fine. The next, the place exploded," Robards said, looking bewildered.

"There's no fire!" Hermione exclaimed suddenly. "It's just smoke!" She and the Aurors began blowing away the smoke with their wands. They entered cautiously. One of the Keepers sat in the middle of the Hall. The room which had nearly been fully reorganized was once again in shambles.

They rushed to the Keeper on the floor. "What happened?" Harry demanded of the man.

The Keeper shook his head, confused. "I don't know. I picked up a roll of parchment and suddenly, everything exploded. It was like some sort of sound bomb that let of smoke but no fire."

"Did you see what was on the parchment?" Ron asked eagerly.

"No. I took it from that shelf though," replied the Keeper, pointing at a shelf near Hermione.

She moved over to it. "Anything there, Hermione?" Harry asked.

"Nothing incriminating. Oh, wait, I see something." She pulled out a little black box from the back of the shelf. "What do you reckon this is?" She turned it over and Draco saw the snake engraved on the lid.

"Wait, don't open it!" he said. Too late, though, Hermione had opened it. Draco just managed to knock the box out of her hands. "Get out now!" he yelled at the others, standing beside Hermione who seemed to be paralyzed.

"What's happened to her?" Harry yelled.

"She'll be fine. I'll get her out. You guys have to leave! The box will explode in ten seconds," Draco yelled back, pulling out his wand.

Harry and the others ran out as the box shook violently. Draco put a strong Shield charm over them, holding her close as the box exploded, spewing fire and smoke. She shifted in his arms suddenly, and fell as her knees gave way. He picked her up and ran out, still maintaining the Shield charm. On the way to the door, he reached out with his left hand and slammed the box shut. The explosion seemed to get sucked back into it.

"Are you alright?" Harry said, worried as Draco emerged from the Hall and set Hermione down carefully.

"Hermione, what's wrong?" Ron asked anxiously, crouching down beside her.

"I – I can't feel my legs." She sounded scared.

Draco stroked her hair, uncaring of Ron's presence. "You'll be fine. The feeling will come back to your legs in a minute."

She hugged him tightly, tearing up slightly. "You probably saved my life in there! Thank you Draco!" she said.

"What was that box?" Harry asked quickly because Ron looked murderous.

Draco looked pained. "It was an old Death Eater device. The person who opens it is paralyzed for a couple of minutes and then can't feel their legs for another minute while it explodes. It renders them helpless since they can't move. You can only close the box if you have the Dark Mark." He looked miserable as he rubbed his left forearm.

"Well I'm glad you were around," said Hermione firmly, as she got to her feet shakily.

"It's a little odd, isn't it?" Ron said suddenly. He was glaring at Draco. "The day Malfoy chooses to show up to work is the day some important evidence blows up and a Death Eater device appears in the Ministry."

Hermione was glaring at Ron as fiercely as Draco. "What are you accusing me of, Weasley? I may not be on this case, but I'm still an Auror. I have every right to be here whenever I want," Draco snarled.

"Well, I just think it's too much of a coincidence that the day you show up here, being notorious for being laid back about paperwork, is the day something like this happens," shrugged Ron.

Harry intervened as Draco took a step towards Ron. "I'm sure there's an explanation for this," he said calmly. "Also, before Draco went to Hermione's office, he met me on the lift and stayed in my office. He couldn't have been a part of any of this. There's no need to make unfounded accusations."

Robards smirked in the background. This was going just as planned. They were already turning against each other.

**X-X-X**

"Hey, Hermione, we might have something that's going to be a problem," said Neville, entering Hermione's office. She had left the Ministry after the incident, choosing to work out of Auxilium instead.

"The Auxilium library's missing a few titles," Neville said, passing a list to her.

Hermione stared at the list. "They're all books on dark Magic."

"That's not all. Someone's also been passing on information to an unknown party. We've just discovered some missing records and files about the case."

"We have a spy here too? Any idea who that might be?"

Neville hesitated. "All this seems to have started a few weeks ago. Right around the time when Draco joined."

"It's not him. I'm sure," Hermione asserted.

It wasn't the first time Neville had thought Hermione was as stubborn as Ron.

**X-X-X**

Hermione was still seething about Neville and Ron when she went to meet Draco for lunch.

"Did I do something wrong?" he asked nervously on seeing her fierce expression.

She sat down at the secluded corner table he'd picked in the Muggle restaurant. "Everyone else thinks you did," she replied.

"Well it's only natural that Weasley considers me a suspect. He's not exactly fond of me," Draco said, bracingly. "How about you just relax for now and have lunch?"

They had lunch in peace, talking about other things. Slow music filled the room and some of the other dining couples made their way to the dance floor in the middle of the room. Draco held his hand out to her. "Care to dance?"

She smiled back as he led her out to the dance floor. "I'm thinking about calling off my engagement," she said softly as he held her close.

"I think that's a good thing," murmured Draco.

"I don't know…is it? Sometimes I remember everything Ron _has_ done for me and it feels like I'm being unfair."

Draco looked at her closely. "It's not unfair for you to be happy."

"But is it fair to make someone else sad in the process?" she asked lightly.

"You'd be making me happy. That's two people's happiness against Weasley's sadness. I think it's perfectly fair," Draco argued.

She looked him in the eye. "How do I know you won't run out on me again?"

"I never ran out on you. I was always keeping an eye on you from afar. I loved you then. I still love you."

"Do you really love me, or just the memories of me? I have changed in the last seven years, you know."

"I love you for what you were, are and will be."

They were closer than ever now.

"Are you sure? I don't want to spend every day wondering if you'll run away again or-mmph!"

He had kissed her suddenly, arms tight around her waist. It came so naturally to her to put her arms around his neck and kiss him back. He didn't feel like Ron; he felt a thousand times better. He felt…real and right. He pulled away, leaving her breathless.

"Do you need any more proof that I'll stay?" he smirked.

Her face was bright red as she shook her head.

"I love you," he repeated.

Hermione was still blushing when she went to Diagon Alley that evening. Draco had gone back to his apartment and she had headed to Flourish and Blotts. She found herself in the back of the shop when someone stepped out of the shadows in front of her. She jumped, startled and then recognized the person. "Professor Trelawney! I didn't see you there!"

"That's good. That means you were seeing through your Inner Eye, my dear," said the old teacher, in her usual misty tones. She stepped closer. "I see you are in great joy. Perhaps because of a boy?"

"Erm, yeah, I am happy." Hermione tried to escape but the excited teacher grabbed her wrist.

"My dear, you must learn the art of Divination now, more than ever. You can never tell when great happiness may change to great sorrow! You must be prepared," she said excitedly. She pulled out what looked like one of Luna's Gurdyroots from her bag and shoved it at Hermione. "This is a great amulet that will help you broaden your mind! Keep it at all times."

"Er, Professor, have you been talking to Luna Lovegood by any chance?" Hermione asked, trying to get away.

"Ah, you see? The amulet is working already. You have Seen my association with Miss Lovegood."

"_Oh great. Luna and Trelawney working together – my worst nightmare,"_ Hermione thought. Aloud she said, "I really need to be going now."

"Remember to keep the amulet all the time. You will need it. I sense you will soon be in grave danger!" whispered Trelawney theatrically.

Hermione nearly ran out of the shop. She wasn't perturbed by the batty predictions. But, she may have taken greater heed of them, if she had been in Minerva McGonagall's place at that moment.

McGonagall gazed out at Dumbledore's tomb from her office window. It was nearly dark outside and the grounds were empty. A sudden movement made her squint at the tomb. Someone was moving behind it. The person was moving too sneakily to be a student and he didn't seem to be wearing the uniform either. He straightened up suddenly and ran into the woods before she could catch a glimpse of his face.

He had been wearing blue Auror robes and his hair had been a disconcertingly familiar shade of platinum blonde that was visible even through the gloom. McGonagall hurried to the tomb as fast as she could. The ground around it was quite flat, but then, hundreds of students walked by it every day. She walked back to the castle, wondering if she'd imagined it all.

That boy had been so familiar…

**X-X-X**

"Hermy," cooed James. "Hermy!"

"No James. Aunt _Hermione,_ not Hermy," said Ginny, trying to teach her son how to pronounce Hermione's difficult name.

"Hermy!" James insisted, waving at the window. Ginny looked around to find an owl perched outside. Ever since learning the name of Percy's owl, James called all owls 'Hermy.'

Ginny left the window open as she read the letter. She let out a happy shriek when she was done and ran to take James next door.

The blonde man in the apartment upstairs winced as Ginny's shrill shriek carried through the window. "Why couldn't this apartment be anywhere else? I hate women who shriek," he complained.

"Patience. Everything will change soon," smirked the tall woman sitting opposite him.

"Potter's just downstairs. If we grabbed him now, it would all change sooner," noted the man.

"He complains a lot my Lady," Robards said, gazing at the _boy_ distastefully.

"Maybe, but he _is_ very useful to me," said the woman, smiling indulgently.

"Do I _have_ to pretend to like the Mudblood? I can't stand her. I would love to break her heart," whined the blond.

"It will be necessary for a while longer. You cannot give away the act," the woman replied sharply. "It won't be long now. In a few hours, we will have everything ready. The Ministry and Auxilium will hunt for us, but they won't be able to find us until it's too late."

The boy and Robards matched her evil smiled.

One floor below, Harry, Ginny, Hermione and Ron were grouped around the letter Ginny had just received. She read it out.

"_Dear Harry,_

_Today was a momentous day for us. Teddy performed his first piece of magic! One of Dora's distant aunts had been here for lunch. She disapproves of Metamorphmagi and Teddy was no exception. She kept shooting him nasty looks and though he couldn't completely understand what she was saying, he got the tone. He stood up to her and told her she was mean. I don't think he liked having to look up at her and he suddenly started levitating! He turned her face orange and gave her purple spots too! He's definitely got his mother's penchant for colour._

_He's been floating around the house since, turning all his toys (and me) orange and purple. He can't wait to show you his new trick. Please visit us tomorrow._

_Love, _

_Andromeda."_

"I wish I'd been there to see it!" exclaimed Harry. He picked up James and spun around like a giddy schoolgirl. "Oh, our Teddy's getting to be all grown up!"

Ginny laughed. "In four years' time, he'll be off to Hogwarts."

"Yeah and Hermione will be giving him her old copy of 'Hogwarts : A History'," Ron joked, grinning happily.

Hermione's smile slid off her face as their words echoed in her mind. "_Hogwarts…letters…Hogwarts: A History…"_

"Harry, we have to go to Hogwarts. Now."

Everyone looked surprised at her sharp tone. "What's the matter?" Harry asked, confused.

"I can find out who's trying to hide their birth records from us. I can find out who our villain might be." Hermione's eyes were shining. "The answers are all there. We have to get to Hogwarts!"

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><p><strong><em>I was quite disappointed with this chapter really. The Trelawney bit was supposed to provide a bit of comic relief, but I doubt it was funny at all...I wasn't really in the mood to write but I wanted to get this chapter out of the way so I can start making some revelations from the next chapter...<em>**

**_Please review and tell me what you thought! Was it boring, passable, or actually good? Any changes I should make in my writing? I always accept constructive criticism!_**

**_Can I get at least five reviews again? The more you review, the more I'm inspired to write :)  
><em>**


	8. Chapter 8

**Thank you all for your amazing reviews for the last chapter! I'm glad everyone's so eager to find out what's going to happen! Thanks to everyone who read or put this story on their alerts/favourites list too!**

T**his is shortest chapter yet, but I hope you like it. Lots of revelations!**

**Please review!**

**Disclaimer : I don't own HP.**

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><p><em>May 27th, 2005. Wednesday<em>

Harry, Ron and Hermione Flooed to Hogwarts in the early hours of the next morning. McGonagall was waiting for them in her office.

"How can I help you?" she asked.

Hermione took charge. "Professor, we need to see the Magical Quill records. It's really important."

McGonagall looked startled but the look on Hermione's face told her she shouldn't ask questions right then. Besides, judging by the blank expressions on the boys' face, she knew an explanation was forthcoming anyway. "Right this way," she said, leading them out of her office.

"What's the Magical Quill?" asked Harry as the trio followed McGonagall.

"It's a magical quill obviously," quipped Ron.

Hermione spared him a condescending glare, reminiscent of the ones she used to give them when they hadn't read something she had. "It records the name of every wizard and witch as soon as they're born. It's what the school uses to find out whom to send letters to when they're eleven. It's how muggleborns are identified," Hermione explained. "It's all in 'Hogwarts :A History,' of course," she added with a pointed look at the boys who grinned sheepishly at each other; neither of them had read the book even now.

"So that means there's still one record of the birth of our mystery villain then?" said Ron.

"We'll just have a name," replied Hermione. "Provided she's from the UK."

"Here we are," said McGonagall, stopping in front of a door on the third floor. Harry recalled walking past this door many times in school. It had never been open.

The room McGonagall let them into wasn't very large. Shelves filled with scrolls lined the walls. McGonagall explained that the school discarded records over fifty years old. There was a single table in the centre of the room. On this table lay a sheet of parchment and poised over it, was a long quill.

Hermione quickly pulled out scrolls from the shelf marked 1970-1980. "Let's start looking."

Barely five minutes later, Ron looked up. "Do you remember anyone called Lyra in Fred and George's year?"

Harry and Hermione thought for a second before shaking their heads.

"Then you should see this," said Ron. They crowded around him and looked at the name he was pointing at on the scroll he was perusing. "Lyra Lestrange," he read out.

The trio immediately looked at McGonagall, waiting for her to elaborate. "I do recall sending an owl," started the teacher slowly. "Wait, I remember now! Lyra was the daughter of Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange!"

The others exchanged dark, significant looks.

"_Was_?" asked Hermione.

McGonagall nodded. "She was given to Rabastan's wife, Stella, to be cared for. Stella was the child's guardian since her parents were engaged in…other…activities. Lyra lived with Stella after her parents were sent to Azkaban. She was born only a couple of years before you lot. Stella wasn't a Death Eater but she was a huge supporter of the Dark side. I sent Lyra her Hogwarts letter when it was time. I received a letter from Stella saying Lyra had died when she was three years old. A severe case of dragon-pox, I believe. She enclosed an authentic death certificate. Lyra never came to Hogwarts."

**X-X-X**

_One hour previously…_

A tall, dark-haired woman stood in front of a building in London. She and her two companions were dressed in black, allowing them to blend in with the darkness. The sun wasn't due to rise for a couple of hours.

"Looks a lot like Hogwarts," noted the boy on her right. "I suppose it's a fitting shape for this museum."

Lyra shrugged. "What it looks like makes no difference to me. I am here for only one thing."

"I heard they have Gryffindor's sword in there," continued the boy.

Lyra smirked at him. "What's this? A true Slytherin fantasizing about Gryffindor's sword?"

"Of course not." The boy looked offended. "I merely thought about nicking a couple of rubies off it. But then I suppose I could take some of the valuables on display in the _Lestrange_ section, eh Lyra?"

Lyra glared at him. "You touch anything other than what we're here for and I will leave you for the Aurors to find."

"So what? It'll only break the Mudblood's heart sooner than planned and everyone gets to talk about how rotten the family is. Not to mention, I'll squeal like a pig about you and the mission," replied the boy.

She rolled her eyes. "I would obviously wipe your memories first. What do you need the riches for anyway? Your family's fortune is enough to last three generations. It would've lasted longer if the Ministry hadn't seized it after the war."

"You can never have enough money. I'm sure you understand," he shrugged.

Lyra smiled. "I don't care about money. _You_ don't understand me at all. Now put your hood on. Anyone can spot that platinum blond head from a mile!"

"It's not my fault," the boy grumbled, lifting his hood.

Lyra knew she should concentrate on the job but she thought of how much the building looked like Hogwarts, the school she never had a chance to go to, and that brought back memories of her childhood…

Lyra had been an unwanted baby. The only reason she'd even been born was because it was part of her mother's obligations to her pureblood marriage. Lyra had forced her Aunt Stella to tell her the whole story. Bellatrix's first words when she'd seen Lyra had been a disappointed, "Oh, it's a girl."

Her Death Eater mother had let her be raised by Stella, not because she was concerned about her baby's safety, but because she hadn't cared about her. Despite being one of the rare female Death Eaters herself, Bellatrix had never thought that her daughter would amount to anything. She had only wanted a son. She hadn't cared that she had a two-year-old daughter she should think about when she had been sentenced to Azkaban after the first war.

Little Lyra had been brought up entirely by her Aunt Stella. Stella had not been a Death Eater, but she was a staunch supporter of Voldemort's regime. Knowing that Lyra would only be viewed with dislike and suspicion at school, she had faked the girl's early death. She had homeschooled the child, training her in spells and ideologies that Hogwarts would never teach. She believed that Lyra was as talented and capable as her mother.

So, the girl grew up worshiping the Dark Lord and viewing Muggles as scum. By the age of fifteen, she could cast all three Unforgivable Curses and a fair number of advanced Dark spells. Along with magic, Stella trained Lyra in certain Muggle fighting techniques. It was apparent that Lyra had inherited both her mother's skill and lack of morals.

She was of age when the Dark Lord returned. Her mother ignored her when she returned from Azkaban, intent as she was on reclaiming the Dark Lord's favour. Her father had been marginally more sympathetic, leaving Lyra in Stella's care. He taught her the uses and power of anonymity in their world. He kept her on the sidelines, making sure no one knew her.

Lyra had even fought at Hogwarts. She had watched her mother sniveling at the Dark Lord's feet and had been filled with disdain. She had adopted Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape's controlled, shrewd mannerisms instead (She had later been disgusted to find they were both traitors). Thanks to her Aunt's training, Lyra was not impulsive like her mother. She only did what was necessary. She never spared a witness.

In the Battle of Hogwarts, she had blended in with all the teenagers. She had slipped out the minute Voldemort's body hit the floor. She hadn't blinked when her mother died. She hadn't attended her uncle and father's trails. She knew when to retreat if she was to come back stronger. The only time she had shown emotion was when her Aunt Stella passed away.

The ailing old caregiver had left the girl with a mission. A mission that, if successful, would place her higher than her mother. So Lyra had set out to show her dead mother exactly what she was capable of. She had found people who were displeased with their lot after the war. They were now on her side. She used Muggle methods and inventions often, acknowledging their ingenuity. She would not fail.

Something vibrated in her pocket. She pulled out the useful Muggle cell phone. "What?"

"My Lady, Potter, Weasley and Granger just Flooed to Hogwarts," said her lookout from the Leaky Cauldron.

She swore and turned to her associates. "We have to hurry. Potter and his gang will soon be on their way. The Mudblood's close to figuring it out."

"But we'll need at least an hour to get the curator to talk about the security and then steal our object," protested Robards.

"We'll have to be faster. We have to move. Now."

**X-X-X**

Back at Hogwarts, the trio gaped at McGonagall. "There's no way! She has to be alive. She's the only lead we've got in this horrid case," said Ron.

Harry looked equally worried but Hermione was staring at a ring on McGonagall's finger thoughtfully. "Professor, where did you get that ring?" she asked.

"This? It belonged to my grandmother. It's just an old family heirloom," replied McGonagall.

"What are you getting at Hermione?" asked Ron.

Hermione turned to Harry. "Did you find anything Dark related to the stolen rings?"

Harry shook his head.

"Draco told me Narcissa's ring had been just an heirloom too. It rightfully belonged to Bellatrix, and hence, her daughter. Now, we know that all Blacks are furiously passionate about their ancestry. I think if you consider Lyra to be alive, things make more sense. She only wanted Narcissa's ring because it was _hers_. She didn't care about the others, they were all just red herrings," said Hermione.

"This is assuming Lyra's alive. There was a death certificate," said Harry.

"Lyra's a Lestrange and a Black. I'm sure she had enough to money to buy herself a death certificate," commented Ron.

"It makes more sense to assume she's alive. Come on Harry, you know it's true," persuaded Hermione.

"Okay, say she is alive. What's she after, if not the rings?" Harry asked, skeptically.

"I don't know," admitted Hermione. Rings were not exactly a part of Dark Magic. In fact, the only evil ring they'd encountered was the Horcrux…the _Horcrux_…A hazy memory came back to Hermione, getting clearer the more she thought about it. "Harry, Ron," she said quietly, "remember the auction we held a couple of months after the war was over?"

The boys looked confused for a moment, and then their expressions cleared. They both went pale.

"We were under some sort of enchantment to keep us from remembering that auction, weren't' we? That's why it took us a couple of minutes to focus on it even now," said Harry.

"I think so. I'm guessing that's the work of the spy," agreed Hermione.

"What auction?" asked McGonagall, curiously.

Harry sighed. "After the war, we held a secret auction for both wizards and Muggles. We needed funds to rebuild and all of us agreed that some of Voldemort's Horcruxes were historic relics and should be preserved. Since they were harmless now, we sold them to the highest bidder. I couldn't remember the names of the buyers until now. The Malfoys took the locket, the Pritchards got the diary, Muggle descendants of Hufflepuff, rich descendants of Ravenclaw and a rich Muggle family took the others. They're the ones who've been killed."

"I'm guessing our culprits didn't know who the buyers were. That's why they attacked the wrong people in the beginning until they found the right ones," added Ron. He frowned. "What I don't get is why we didn't find the auction list to be missing earlier. It was one of the most recent documents. It should have come up within a day of the Hall of Records being cleaned up."

Hermione gasped. "It's Robards! He must be the spy! He was the only Auror in charge of the Hall, he'd have plenty of opportunity to enchant us all and he could let Lyra and any other accomplices in easily."

"Gawain Robards?" asked Minerva, startled. "He was here at Hogwarts for the monthly inspection of our security measures."

"Did he do anything suspicious?" Harry demanded.

"I don't think so. He _did_ spend a lot of time in the forest though. He emerged later from the path that leads to the Acromantula lair."

Harry went pale at he words. "Oh Merlin. I think I know what they want the old Horcruxes for. Hermione, do you remember one of the interesting Dark rites you told me to read about? It concerned Horcruxes and the Hallows."

"Oh no. Please don't tell me that you dropped the Resurrection stone near the Acromantula lair," groaned Hermione.

"Wait a second," Ron said, his eyes huge. "Are you two suggesting that Lyra, Robards and whoever else may be allegedly involved in all this are trying to resurrect Voldemort?"

"Exactly. This is the seventh anniversary of Voldemort's death. They're going to use the stone to bring him back," said Hermione.

McGonagall looked uncomfortable as Ron's jaw dropped. "There's something else you should know," she said hesitantly. "Last night, I thought I saw someone sneaking around near Dumbledore's tomb. I couldn't see his face, but he looked an awful lot like Draco Malfoy. His hair was the same shade, and he was the same build too."

Ron and Harry looked at Hermione.

"I'm sure lots of people have platinum blond hair! It doesn't have to be him!" she said defensively.

"Oh come on, it makes as much sense as Lyra being behind all this. She could easily recruit her cousin," said Ron.

"It was dark! Professor, you can't be sure of what you saw, right?" demanded Hermione.

"Well there _was_ no one there when I went to see," admitted McGonagall.

"We have to focus on finding Lyra Lestrange and Robards, not on making baseless accusations," snapped Hermione, glaring at Ron.

"Oh yeah, it's a real use of time to hunt for someone we aren't even sure exists, but it's a waste of time going after a suspect. Malfoy has to be involved! His family even had the locket," Ron shot back.

"Why kill his family then? He could have just handed over the locket," retorted Hermione.

Ron opened his mouth to argue but Harry interrupted. "Hold it!" He counted on his fingers. "We only counted five families. I was the sixth horcrux. There's one more."

"Oh no!" gasped Hermione. "The War Museum. We have to get there now! We have to make sure the ring's still there."

The trio took off down the stairs. They had to Apparate to the museum immediately. McGonagall went to inform the Aurors and Auxilium and get them to the museum as soon as possible.

Ron summed up all their thoughts as they raced across the grounds. "Bloody hell! Can't everyone just let Voldemort and us rest in peace?"

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><p><strong>So what did you think? I hope I put across the chapter properly. If anything was a little confusing or too unbelievable or too OOC, please let me know, and I'll try to change that.<strong>

**Please review! I want at least five reviews again :) **


	9. Chapter 9

**Thank you all for the reviews last chapter! They really motivated me to write this! A big thank you to everyone who read or put this story on their alerts or favourites list too!**

**I hope you guys like this chapter!**

**Please review!**

**Disclaimer : I don't own HP._  
><em>**

* * *

><p><strong><em>May 27<em>_th__, 2005. Wednesday._**

"We're surrounded, Lyra!" shouted Robards.

Popping noises indicated the arrival of Auxilium members and Aurors at the Hogwarts-shaped museum. Lyra pulled out a watch from one pocket and a shoelace from another.

"The emergency Portkey isn't due to leave for another ten minutes," she said. "Robards, keep that box with the ring in it safe. I can hold them off."

"What about me?" asked the third boy.

"You Disillusion yourself, change into Auxilium uniform and blend in with them as soon as they enter. We cannot risk losing you yet."

He nodded and performed the charm just as the wizards and witches burst into the room, Harry, Ron and Hermione (as R1) in the lead. The minute they saw Lyra, they knew who she was.

"Give us the ring Lestrange," Harry ordered.

"Make me, Potter!" she screeched. She threw curses at him so fast, he was barely able to dodge them. Hermione flicked her wand and the floor under Lyra turned into sand. But, before the others could do anything, Lyra had jumped out of it.

"Run Robards!" she yelled.

"R1, you take your people down the south side. We'll follow Lyra. We'll have her surrounded that way," Harry yelled, running after Lyra.

The museum had no secret passages or shortcuts like the real Hogwarts unfortunately. Harry and Ron had no choice but to follow Lyra. But she was fast, she had a two-minute lead on them already. She was letting Robards go ahead. She toppled suits of armour and exhibits to slow the Aurors down. She and Robards came to a fork. "We have only five minutes for the Portkey to become active," Lyra panted. "You go right and I'll go left. We'll meet at the top of the replica of the Astronomy tower."

They separated quickly. Meanwhile, Lyra's third companion was discreetly slowing down the members of Auxilium with Trip jinxes and such spells. He even 'accidentally' knocked over a display of Peruvian Darkness Powder to hamper their progress. At the fork, Harry and Ron split up too, half the team following each of them.

"Harry, they're headed for the Astronomy tower," Hermione's voice came through the Muggle radio that they used now – it was easier than sending a Patronus every few minutes in a chase like this.

Harry told Hermione to get her team out into the grounds around the museum, in case Lyra had planned an aerial escape. He and Ron chased after the two thieves.

Lyra burst through the door to the tower two seconds before Robards. "Blimey that's scary," gasped Robards, looking at the lifelike statue of Dumbledore, suspended over the battlements in a recreation of the scene of his death.

"Two minutes! The Aurors might just make it!" Lyra said frustrated.

"Harry, get the ring! Forget about capturing them!" Hermione yelled into her radio.

Harry burst through the door just as the shoelace in Lyra's hand began to glow.

"Accio!" Harry yelled at the last minute.

"No!" Lyra screamed as the box flew out of Robards' hand just as they disappeared together. Harry heaved a sigh of relief as he checked the box. The real Horcrux was still there.

**X-X-X**

"You careless, worthless idiot! Why didn't you put protective charms on the box? Crucio!"

Robards screamed as Lyra took her anger out on him.

"Please my Lady! I – I panicked. The Aurors were too fast – I was scared – no, please, NO!" Robards screamed again as he was tortured.

"I have no time or mercy for fools like you. There is no room for fear in this mission. If we are to bring the Dark Lord back, we _must_ have the ring," shouted Lyra, for an instant looking and sounding exactly like her crazed mother. She sat down heavily. "We have no choice but to wait," she told her followers. "We have to keep hope that our inside-man comes through."

**X-X-X**

In the Ministry, an emergency meeting was going on. Aurors, Hit Wizards, a delegation from Auxilium and members from every magical law enforcement department were gathered in a conference room. Harry had put the Ministry on high alert, pictures of Lyra and Robards were being circulated and the Muggle Prime Minister was being informed.

"Ron, you'll be in charge of keeping a 24/7 watch on Voldemort's grave in Little Hangleton. R1, you and the rest of Auxilium are in charge of guarding the ring. We don't want the magical community to panic, so the museum is being repaired right now and the inauguration is to take place as scheduled." Harry ran a hand through his hair tiredly. "Unfortunately, this means Security will need to be tighter."

"Wouldn't it be better to put a fake in the museum and guard the ring in a secure location?" Hermione suggested.

Harry's eyes flickered around the room before he answered. "No. Under the circumstances, it's best to keep it at the museum. At the very least, there will be more wizards in case something goes wrong."

Hermione understood the hidden meaning – they couldn't trust anyone until Auxilium's hidden spy was discovered.

"What about you, Auror Potter? Where will you be?" asked another Auror.

Harry looked frustrated. Ron answered for him. "As Harry was one of the original Horcruxes, Lyra will need him for this ritual. We can't allow him to be kidnapped. If we can keep him safe until sunrise on Monday morning, we'll be fine. The ritual has to be performed at the same time that Voldemort died. They'll need the Invisibility Cloak too, so we need to keep that safe as well."

Harry looked mutinous, but he knew there was no other way.

"What about the Elder wand?" someone asked.

"We just received a report saying the Elder wand is missing from Dumbledore's tomb. Professor McGonagall mentioned seeing someone hanging around the tomb a couple of days ago. We believe it's been stolen. We can't let them get anything else," said Harry. "Voldemort can_not_ come back."

**X-X-X**

The blond boy knelt at Lyra's chair, relaying his report. The girl looked thoughtful at the end of it.

"We cannot seize the ring before the museum opens. The guards will be fully alert then. We can't get be too late either. The festivities start at midnight. Let a few guests enter without incident. Around three in the morning, we will strike. The ritual will need two hours, ending at sunrise," she mused.

"R1 herself plans to guard the ring. She is a formidable opponent. Also, the ring is being placed in a small room of its own. Only an Auror or a member of Auxilium of high rank can enter," added the boy.

Lyra smiled, her eyes glinting evilly. "Well then," she said smoothly, "I'm glad we have you."

He nodded. "What about Potter?"

"Oh _we_ won't go to him. He'll come to us himself." Lyra smiled cunningly at a photograph depicting Harry, Ginny and little James. "All he needs is the right motivation."

**X-X-X**

"Draco! Draco!" Hermione called, stopping the tall figure ahead of her. She balked slightly at his disdainful look. "Do you want to get lunch with me?" she asked.

He raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

Hermione was taken aback. "No reason. We could just talk and relax a bit."

"No, I don't think so. I have other work. I must be going now." Draco was gone in a moment, leaving her alone there, confused. Draco had shown absolutely no interest in her at all. It was like he no longer cared about her.

She tried again the next day to meet with the same response. She asked Ginny for advice. The redhead had gone up to talk to Draco and no one answered the door. There were only three days left for the big day and Hermione was still in doubts about her personal life. Draco seemed to have become a whole new person. He took great interest at work and meetings but no interest at all in Hermione.

He just wasn't Draco – _her_ Draco – anymore.

When she went to Auxilium on Saturday morning, she found Neville outside her office, looking grim. "I've got news and you won't like it," he said.

Hermione sighed, wondering what could possibly make things worse now. Neville gave her a file. Hermione flipped through the entries. "These are Muggle intelligence agency reports. What about them?" she asked.

"We couldn't directly trace the person leaking our information, but since they were classified files, we knew that the spy would need to use his Auxilium card. With a combination of Muggle and magical technology, we found the card that's been used," said Neville.

Hermione stared at the name. "No," she whispered. "No, Neville, there must be some mistake. It _can't_ be."

"Over the last week, this is the card that's been using the files without returning them," he said.

Hermione's eyes filled with tears as she gazed at the offending name – Draco Malfoy. "What if it was stolen?" she asked, grasping at straws now.

"That's not possible. Draco is only given one card for all purposes. If it was stolen, he would have had to report it. Otherwise, he wouldn't even be able to get in here. Also – and I hate to say this – we found this evidence the day before yesterday. Draco hasn't been coming to work since then. Luna, George and I broke into his apartment. It's been cleaned out. I think he's made a run for it," said Neville.

Hermione looked stunned and then her eyes hardened, all emotion vanishing. She looked deadly calm – far scarier than when she was angry. "If he thinks he can fool me and get away with it, he's wrong. When I find him, Draco Malfoy will wish he was never born.

**X-X-X**

_**May 1**__**st**__**, 2005. Sunday.**_

_**2 A.M**_

A lone figure slipped into the War Museum, getting in and out unnoticed. In its hands was a small box. The figure slipped into the heavily guarded main exhibit and was out in seconds, the box still clasped firmly under its cloak.

**X-X-X**

Sunday morning dawned and the law-enforcement departments were in a state of disorder. Ron and Kingsley were managing as best as they could. Harry had been safely hidden away. The old members of the DA and the Order were running about too, helping wherever they could. At the museum, action plans, building blueprints and fighting techniques were being discussed. Ron stood in a hall there, trying to make sense of the pandemonium.

Seamus Finnigan suddenly clapped him on the shoulder. "Good to see you, mate. Anything I can do to help?" he said.

"Just…join whichever group you like, Seamus," answered Ron helplessly.

Seamus grinned. "No idea what everyone's doing then?"

"Except that they're preparing for the fight of their lives, no."

"Just like old times then." Seamus walked away, joining a group of Aurors.

Ron thought Seamus couldn't have been more wrong. This was _nothing_ like last time except that there was a deranged villain on the loose. If this went badly that night and the villain won, there would be _two_ deranged villains on the loose. Harry was out of this fight. He and Hermione were barely being civil to each other, they definitely weren't fighting together. For the first time in ages – the trio was separated. Ron just hoped that this would end like last time – in their victory.

Soon, it was midnight. Guests formed a long line outside the museum, pushing each other and craning their necks to get a look inside. The high security meant that they would be let in slowly.

After the first couple of hundred rich, spoiled, fussy socialites were dealt with, there were no mishaps. Ron was already tired. The security guards, Aurors, everyone was confident and tired.

That was what Lyra had been waiting for – the moment they let their guard down.

Hermione stood guard in the room containing the ring. Two other Aurors were with her and more people manned the door. The destroyed Horcrux was the main attraction although Hermione couldn't understand what people found so fascinating about an old broken ring. The room was thankfully empty for the moment, the guests looking at other articles. A small commotion was heard outside. The Aurors looked at her and she nodded. They stepped out to see what was wrong.

In a flash, a masked member of Auxilium slipped in and locked the door.

"Who are you?" Hermione demanded, raising her wand and standing in front of the ring. The others were banging on the door, but it wasn't budging.

The man inside didn't answer. He checked his watch. 2.30 A.M. Perfect.

He started firing spells at Hermione. She blocked them and hit a button on her belt, trying to activate the security system of the room, but it didn't work. "Expelliarmus!" she yelled. The man deflected it easily, shooting three quick Stunners at her.

Hermione dodged, turned around and animated a stone statue of Marvolo Gaunt, making it rush at the intruder. He blasted it aside, firing a silver jet of light at her. She shielded herself quickly, countering with a quick succession of water, fire and ropes.

He dodged the water, blocked the fire and just barely managed to stop the ropes tying him up. He slashed at her with the same curse that Dolohov had once favoured. She put up a Shield charm quickly, staggering under the force of the spell. Hermione made the tiles in the floor start randomly disappearing, making the man step back.

He used his wand to create a smokescreen, using the distraction to stop Hermione's spell. He leaped at her, out of the smokescreen, sending more jinxes at her. She jumped aside, away from them and they hit the floor and walls.

"You will _not_ beat me, Mudblood," the man growled.

Hermione's eyes widened at the familiar voice. She suddenly leaped at the man herself, firing jinx after jinx, curse after curse, getting closer until she could see the cold grey behind the slits of his mask. She reached out as he tripped, trying to step away from her, and pulled it off.

The mask fell to the floor as she stumbled back, shock on her face and her eyes rapidly filling with tears.

Draco looked back at her, a sinister grin on his face.

"No," she whispered.

"Oh _yes_," he smirked, hitting her with a Jelly-Legs curse.

She wobbled back and nearly fell.

"Well done, cousin," said an amused voice. Lyra had appeared in the chamber, somehow having passed the Anti-Apparition jinx on the room. She grabbed the ring from its pedestal and Disapparated.

"NO!" Hermione screamed, wobbling towards the pedestal as Draco pointed at the ceiling with his wand.

"Confringo!" he yelled, blasting it apart. Hermione stumbled, the ceiling stones were falling right at her.

"Hermione!"

Someone tackled her, knocking her to the ground, away from the falling stones. Hermione twisted around her saviour's arm. Beside the pedestal with the empty box now stood a livid - looking Draco Malfoy. But her saviour also had identical blond hair except that his grey eyes were concerned and his face was scratched. Confused, she spoke her saviour's name.

"Draco?"

* * *

><p><strong>Dun dun duuuunnn.<strong>

**I've always wanted to do that! **

** Bad news : My first ever day of college is on Monday (wish me luck) which means updates will be slower.**

**Good news : The next chapter is written already, and the one after that (probably the last one) is on its way. The more you review, the more you motivate me to finish typing ;)**

**Please review! I want at least five reviews again :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Thank you all for your wonderful reviews! Thanks a lot to everyone who read/alerted/favourited this story too. I am SO sorry I couldn't update sooner! The first week of college has been busy. Thanks for all your good wishes for my first day of college too!**__

**I really hope this chapter isn't confusing to anyone. I've tried my best to get it across right, but if anyone gets confused, please let me know and I'll change it. Also, the timeline may be a little off, but just ignore that...**

**This chapter starts a week before the previous chapter ended**_**. **_**It's still May 26th****at the beginning of this chapter and May 2nd at the end where it catches up with the previous chapter. The first part is all about what happened to Draco until he burst into the museum in the previous chapter.**

**Please review!**

**Disclaimer : I don't own HP.**

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><p><em><strong>May 26<strong>__**th**__**, 2005. Tuesday. 7.30 PM**_

Draco walked into his flat, lightheaded from the afternoon's kiss. Hermione still loved him! His brain constructed fantasies of a 'happily ever after.' He spun around like a giddy schoolchild as he entered his flat and abruptly stopped mid-spin, the goofy grin sliding off his face when he saw the people sitting comfortably on his sofa.

"Expelliarmus!"

Draco's wand was out of his hand in a flash, he was defenseless. He reached for the doorknob –

"Petrificus Totalus."

Draco was immobilized with only his head left free to move. He glared at the man who had Disarmed and cursed him, a mixture of confusion and hatred on his face. "Theo? What are you _doing?_ Let me go!" he demanded.

Theodore Nott smiled. "I'm afraid not, Draco. My Lady, he's home," he called over his shoulder.

A tall, dark-haired girl stepped out of the kitchen. Draco went pale. The girl looked exactly like his Aunt Bellatrix, right down to the manic eyes.

"Well, hello cousin. It's so nice to finally meet you," she smirked.

Gawain Robards rose from the sofa too, his eyes greedy and watchful. "I'm Lyra Lestrange. Your Aunt Bellatrix's unknown daughter," Lyra said.

"But you died years ago! That's what I was told," Draco blurted.

"Oh no, not at all. I'm just a very well kept secret," she said, smiling slightly. She ran a finger across his cheek, her eyes narrowed. "You have never seen me, but I have watched you grow up. You really do get more handsome every day, just like a Black family member should. But you can do _so_ much better than that Mudblood."

"Don't call her that!" draco snarled.

"A pureblood with no respect for the old ways? Disgraceful," Lyra hissed. "Crucio!"

It was agony being tortured, yet unable to move and squirm like he wanted to. He refused to scream and give her the satisfaction. "_This is nothing,"_ Draco thought to himself, his lips pressed together, "_Voldemort used to do much worse to you."_

Lyra lifted her wand. "Not bad, but I suppose you've had lots of practice at not showing weakness. You can scream you know. No one can hear you, I made sure of that. Not even the Mudblood downstairs."

"If you do anything to her, I'll kill you," Draco snapped, his eyes dark.

"How touching, especially considering you can't even move right now," Lyra said, disdainfully, "But don't worry. I won't hurt her – not _yet_." She pushed up Draco's left sleeve, trailing her finger slowly up the fading Dark Mark on his forearm. "It's _such_ a pity. The Dark Lord chose you for revenge and it led to his own downfall. What goes around, comes around, I suppose. If only I had been there instead."

Draco wanted to shudder. Her touch, her voice, everything about her repulsed him. "What do you want?" he said, repressing the tremor in his voice.

"Always to the point, you Malfoys. You're just like your father. His first concern was also for his wife. He wasted no time with lies and denials. He was ready to give me what I wanted as long as I left his family alone. In fact, your parents took the _least_ torture before I left them to burn," observed Lyra.

Anger, pure, unbridled anger pulsed through Draco. He suddenly lunged at Lyra's throat, breaking through the body-bind curse. Lyra was startled but she quickly paralyzed Draco again. He glared at her, trying to struggle against the spell, but to no success.

"Interesting! You can still perform accidental magic under stress. We'll have to be more careful with you," she said. Her tone became serious. "To business, then. Where is Slytherin's locket?"

"Which one?" he asked innocently.

She slapped him. "The destroyed Horcrux! I know you know which one I'm talking about so don't act as though Slytherin owned a jewelry shop and ask me to describe it from the hundreds of lockets he possessed!"

"Didn't my parents tell you about it? That's what you went to them for, isn't it?" he snarled.

She grabbed him by the collar, her eyes dangerous. "We both know that they led me to a fake. Where is the real one?"

"Buried in Hell. It won't be long before you find it there," Draco shrugged.

She shoved him back angrily. Nott flicked his wand and a deep gash appeared on Draco's face. He still refused to scream although a gasp of pain escaped him as the hot blood flowed down his cheek. "Tell us what we want to know!" Nott shouted.

Draco smirked. "Now, Theodore, I thought you were raised better. Is this the way to treat an old friend?"

Lyra shouted with fury, torturing Draco again. This time he did scream, black spots winking in front of his eyes. Out of the corner of his eyes, though, he could see Robards hanging back from the other two. Draco gasped for breath as Lyra ended the spell.

"You listen to me, Draco Malfoy," she said, her voice low and dangerous. "Either you tell me what I want to know, or I will decide that it _is_ time to hurt Granger right now. I was saving it for later, but I can always change the plan. I will drag her up here, torture her and make her face resemble Bill Weasley's. All the while, you will watch. I won't kill her; I'll leave her here and torture her _every single day _until you crack. Hell, I'll even take Polyjuice Potion, turn into _you_ and torture her. That should hurt her even more," Lyra hissed.

"Her friends would find her," Draco said confidently.

"I will make sure they don't until it's too late," Lyra retorted. Draco saw the manic glint in Lyra's eyes. He knew she wasn't making idle threats. He'd had a hard time watching Hermione being tortured by Bellatrix in his house; he couldn't stand watching Lyra do it this time. He looked defeated as he nodded at the bedside table.

"There's a secret drawer in the table. The latch's under the second leg in the front. Pull if down," he said dully.

Lyra was beside the table in a flash, Nott still pointing his wand at Draco. Soon, Lyra was cradling the broken Horcrux. "Oh _yes_," she said, "Now, I can bring back the Dark Lord very son."

"That's your plan? You want to resurrect the Dark Lord?" Draco asked, horrified.

Lyra nodded casually.

Draco looked at Theodore and Robards incredulously. "You two are _helping_ her? Have you forgotten the horrors of the Dark Lord's rule?" he demanded.

"At least we had a life then, Malfoy!" snapped Robards, although at Draco's words, he seemed a little less convinced.

"You and your family suffered under his rule because you angered him. We were perfectly happy under his regime. You and your family walk free today, despite your previous crimes which you committed with no second thoughts because you were considered _scared _and only trying to protect your family. My parents are rotting away in Azkaban when they are no guiltier than yours were! If the Dark Lord's rule ensures my family's comfort and freedom, I will bring him back!" shouted Nott.

"But you're following this mad woman to do it?" Draco said, nodding at Lyra. "She'll treat you like the Dark Lord did me. She'll keep you around only till you're useful, she'll keep you wondering whether you and your family will live to see another day!"

Robards hit him. "Don't speak of Lyra that way," he growled. But, Draco saw the doubt in his eyes; the question of whether Draco was right about Lyra.

Nott had his wand out. "Can I kill him now, Lyra?"

"No. He is of no use dead," said Lyra.

"He isn't much use alive either," muttered Nott.

Lyra looked at Nott. "You will turn into him using Polyjuice Potion. You will infiltrate the Aurors and Auxilium for the rest of this crucial week and bring down their attempts to stop us from within. You will help me steal the ring and crush the Mudblood's spirit. She's the most dangerous of the trio." She eyed Nott's light blond hair. "At least your hair won't need much changing. It might make the transformation less painful."

Nott looked disgusted. "I'm already in Auxilium. Why should I impersonate him?"

Lyra sighed. "Your old sob story about your mistakes convinced Auxilium to let you in their ranks, but your little talent only got you to rank 40. As Draco, you will be _right_ on the inside, to get me the information I need. Also, you will allow certain people to glimpse you, shifting suspicion to Draco."

Nott looked reluctant, but nodded. Draco was subdued and stuffed into a secret room behind his closet.

**X-X-X**

Everyday, for the rest of the week, someone from Lyra's team would come, torture him, feed him, and take his hair for the potion and leave. The same night that Draco was captured, Nott returned, gloating gleefully about how McGonagall saw him and would suspect Draco.

Sometimes, Lyra would come and taunt him about Hermione. Draco kept track of the days, using his Auror training and his previous experiences to stay sane and aware. Two nights before 1st May which would be when Lyra went to steal the ring from the museum, Robards came with his food.

"Hello, Robards," Draco said, as he was let out of his closet. "Tell Lyra that Auxilium members were here looking for me yesterday."

Robards hand slipped as he tossed Draco some bread. "They were?"

"No need to worry, they didn't find me. What's got you so jumpy today?" Draco said.

"Shut up," said Robards.

"Nott ranted a lot about the heist being messed up. What's the matter, Lyra blame you for it? You've been tortured by her too, haven't' you? It's alright, you can tell me. I've been through this before," Draco said.

"I told you to shut up!"

"It's a thankless job, you know, being a Death Eater. You start off with ideas of rewards and honour. But soon, you realize your old life was far better. At least you knew you would make it through the day," shrugged draco.

Robards couldn't help himself. "Did the Dark Lord hurt you often?"

"Oh yes. Whenever a job went wrong, his way of letting off steam was to torture someone." Draco looked Robards in the eye. "Joining the Dark side all sounds grand and powerful until you experience it. Then, you realize it's all wrong. Dark Magic is powerful, but it will turn on you the minute you show weakness. Voldemort would have murdered me and my family and anyone who displeased him without a second thought. The only people who flourished under his rule were liars, cowards and crooks. He would have killed me the moment I became expendable. He won't show any mercy to you either. Think about it, Robards. Do you want to live as a good man in a kind world where there are opportunities for the reformed, even though they may be a little slow in coming to you at first, or in an era of constant fear and temporary luxury? I, for one, am entirely happy with being an Auror in this world than I was a Death Eater."

Robards left soon, but draco knew he'd been filled with doubt at his own actions.

**X-X-X**

_**1**__**st**__** May, 2005. Around midnight.**_

Neville was looking at the file he'd shown Hermione the previous day. Though he chastised her for it, he too believed that Draco wouldn't betray them like his. He'd got some agents to pull the records of the Library for the last three months.

He noticed that Theodore Nott used the library a lot, more than really necessary. Nott had joined Auxilium quite soon after it was started and hadn't shown any signs of suspicious activity and soon, everyone had let their guard down around him. As he looked at the files, Neville noticed something. Every time Draco Malfoy had been in the library, so had Nott. He looked at the signatures in the Library's log book and saw it immediately. Draco's signature had changed suddenly in the last week. The really important files had gone missing in the last week. He compared Nott's signature to Draco's. Draco's was clearly forged.

Draco wasn't behind any of this, _Nott _was. Neville got up quickly. He had to get to Draco's apartment. He might be held captive somewhere there.

Neville left, completely forgetting that he was supposed to be guarding Ginny and James that night.

**X-X-X**

Neville ran to Draco's apartment. "Homenum Revelio," he said. No human presence registered, but he knew that Draco would have put up protective wards so he didn't want to rely on the spell. Meanwhile, Draco had managed to prop himself up against the secret panel that led into his closet. He couldn't open the panel from the inside without a wand.

Neville unlocked the door and tiptoed in. He saw a lattice of Alarm spells and quickly nullified them. A faint banging reached his ears from the vicinity of the closet. He approached carefully, wand at the ready. He banged on the door. The banging from inside became louder, he could hear shouting too. Neville yanked the door open, but the closet was empty.

"Who's there?" he asked.

"Neville? It's Draco! Where's Hermione? I'm trapped behind a secret panel. We have to stop Lyra!" came Draco's voice.

Neville kept his wand up. "What did you give Hermione for her 21st birthday?"

"An edition of 'Quidditch Through the Ages.' I was going to teach her how to fly. What did I give _you _to pass on to Hermione for Christmas when I was in Bulgaria?" draco asked, remembering that he wasn't sure if it really was Neville outside.

"A stuffed toy, it was a lion," Neville replied. "How do I get you out?"

"There's a lever on the left wall. How's Hermione?" Draco called.

"Alive, last I checked. She's guarding the ring at the museum," Neville answered, pulling on the lever.

Draco fell out, his face white as Neville cut through his bonds. Draco jumped up immediately, ignoring the weakness he felt.

"She's with the ring? Oh Merlin, Lyra's going there now! Send reinforcements to Voldemort's grave!" Draco told Neville, rushing out.

**X-X-X**

It was 2.30 in the morning of **2nd May** when Draco arrived at the museum. He simply ran through the halls, ignoring the security system he'd set off. He could hear the fight in the ring room now. The guards were trying to get in. Draco grabbed the doorknob with his left arm. He knew Nott had a Dark Mark too and he would have sealed it so that only someone with a Dark Mark could get in. Draco ran in just in time to see Lyra grab the ring and disappear.

The ceiling began to fall as Nott hit it with a spell. "Hermione!" he yelled, tackling the brunette. She looked confuse as she looked at him.

"Draco?" she asked. Then, suddenly, she had pinned him and Nott to the wall, their wands in her hand, both Dracos bound by a spider-web like material.

"Which of you is the real Draco?" she demanded.

"I am!" they both responded, Nott doing his best to be believable.

"Don't listen to him, Hermione. He's an impostor," the real Draco shouted.

"Enough of this," growled Nott. He slipped a knife into his hand and sliced through the bonds with a single stroke. He pulled his wand out of Hermione's hand, dueling her again. A stray spell hit the web around Draco and he fell to the ground. He picked up his fallen wand, jumped in front of Nott and began dueling him, protecting Hermione.

"Hermione, you have to believe me!" yelled Draco.

"No, I'm the real Draco!" insisted Nott.

Hermione watched them fight, her eyes darting from one to the other. She knew one of them had taken Polyjuice Potion but she couldn't wait for it to wear off. She had a sudden idea. She pointed her wand at them both and yelled, "Identitatem Revelare!"

A huge wave of water shot out of her wand, dousing the two men. They coughed and spluttered, knocked to the ground. Hermione pointed at the coughing Nott who was now back to his real appearance. "Stupefy!" she yelled. Nott fell unconscious immediately.

Hermione ran to Draco. "I knew it. _I knew it!_ You _couldn't_ be the bad guy!" she sobbed, flinging her arms around him.

He hugged her back just as fiercely, neither of them caring that he was soaking wet. "I've missed you so much," he said into her ear, sending pleasant shivers up her spine.

"What happened?" she asked, touching the cuts on his face.

He explained what he'd been through quickly as she healed him. She looked at him sadly when they were both done. "I'm sorry. You had to go through all that because they threatened to hut me. I'm really sorry."

"Don't be. You would've done the same for me," he replied. He kissed her gently. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Just then, Harry and Ron burst through the new hole in the ceiling, being unable to get through the door.

"Well that was fast. You came in after all the action was over," Hermione said sarcastically.

"We're sorry; we had to get through all the security measures Malfoy set off when he ran through the museum. Neville explained that Draco's innocent. What-?" Ron stopped, spotting Nott on the floor.

"I used the Thief's Downfall. He was an impostor," Hermione began to explain, but Harry stopped her. He looked miserable and furious at the same time.

"Not now, Hermione," Harry said, looking anguished. "Lyra has the ring but that's not all. We have to go to Little Hangleton. Lyra's kidnapped Ginny and James."

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><p><strong>Did you like it? Please review and let me know! I will try my best to get the next chapter (the last one!) up by Wednesday, but if I can't, it'll definitely be up on the weekend. <strong>

**Oh and I got into Pottermore! I actually found it kind of lame...not really what I was expecting...  
><strong>

**At least five reviews again?**


	11. Chapter 11

**So here is the last chapter. Once again, thank you all for your encouraging reviews. A big thank you to everyone who took the time to read or put this story on their alerts or favourites lists as well!**

**I hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer : I don't own HP**

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><p>Robards looked resentfully at Lyra. They were in Little Hangleton where Voldemort was buried. Lyra stood in front of Voldemort's grave, the Horcruxes arranged in a circle around it. There was a gap for Harry Potter. Tied to a nearby gravestone was Ginny, clutching James. The two Hallows they had acquired were at the head of the grave. Nott hadn't returned yet. As much as Robards disliked the young man, he hoped he was still alive.<p>

Robards was having second thoughts about Lyra. While she had seemed all-powerful and respectable to Robards, she now appeared just cruel. She didn't mind killing people to serve her purpose. Robards remembered how much he had struggled to survive and hence, he held a respect for life. True, he had participated in the arson and torture earlier, but that had been necessary for their secrecy. He never believed in killing when there was an alternative and now, Lyra's methods repulsed him.

He was realizing that Draco Malfoy had been right. Lyra would dispose of her servants as soon as they were no longer useful. She cared nothing for him. She had tortured _him_ after the museum heist had gone wrong and refused to admit that she had been as responsible as he was for losing the ring that day. Yet, he'd been punished.

His resentful thoughts were interrupted by four loud pops. He was knocked over by Ron Weasley's spell while Harry Potter had started towards Lyra.

"Ah, Mr. Potter. Finally," said the evil woman calmly. She deflected Harry's spell and conjured up a thin stream of black fire which coiled around him. Harry's shout of surprise was joined by Ron and Hermione's as they too were bound by the fiery rope. Harry was pulled to the empty spot in the Horcruxes' circle as Ginny shouted his name and one of Lyra's other cronies took the Invisibility Cloak from Harry's pocket. Ron and Hermione were tied against headstones beside Ginny.

"Ginny," Harry said softly, spotting his wife. "I'm sorry."

Silent tears ran down Ginny's cheeks as Harry was bound to his spot in the circle and Lyra laid the Cloak – the last Hallow – on the grave.

She turned to Draco who was still free. "Well done, Theo. You brought them all here right on time."

Draco froze as the captives looked up suddenly. _"She doesn't realize it's the real me! She thinks I'm still Nott under the Polyjuice Potion," _he thought. He decided to play along and wait for the right moment to attack. He shrugged. "It wasn't hard once I told Potter his favourite blood-traitor was here," Draco said doing his best to smirk darkly at Ginny.

"I thought as much," mused Lyra. "It's amusing how _love_ can make people so weak."

"You have me now, Lestrange. Let my family and friends go!" said Harry, struggling against the charm Lyra had used to keep him rooted to the spot.

She laughed coldly. "I am doing all this to prove that I am _far_ better than my useless mother. She couldn't even deliver a simple prophecy to the Dark Lord. Imagine how pleased the Dark Lord will be when he is welcomed back to the sight of not just you, but all your little friends who helped thwart him. And he will be happier to see that you are all bound and powerless – at his mercy."

She turned to the east, glanced at her watch and then turned to her twenty-five followers who were standing to the right of the grave. "It is time to begin!" she declared.

The twenty-five people cheered for a moment and then began an eerie chant. Lyra closed her eyes, chanting along while waving her wand in complex patterns over the grave.

Draco checked his watch. There were exactly fourteen minutes to sunrise – fourteen minutes till the Dark Lord came back. A jet of dark purple light shot from Nagini's skin – the first of the Horcrux remains – to the centre of the grave. Draco looked around, the Auror in him assessing the situation. Robards had Ron, Ginny and Hermione's wands. Even if he managed to set them all free, they couldn't fight against twenty-seven people skilled in the Dark Arts.

He took a tentative step towards the Horcrux circle but immediately stepped back when he felt a mild jolt of electricity run through him. The circle was surrounded by a protective charm invoked by the Horcruxes themselves. Unless one of the Horcruxes was moved, thus breaking the circle, he couldn't get into the circle. But, the shield was _around_ the circle which made it suicidal to get to the Horcruxes.

Suddenly, Harry gasped as a jet of purple light shot out of his scar and hit the grave. Draco knew he had to do something fast.

Meanwhile, Robards was surveying the scene, his eyes wide with fear. He could sense that something Dark was about to happen. His eyes widened further when a third jet of light from the diadem joined the other two at the grave. Robards had expected Dark Magic of course. But, he hadn't expected it to be so terrifying; so obviously malevolent and _wrong_.

Malfoy's words floated back into his mind. "_Joining the Dark side all sounds grand and powerful until you experience it. Then, you realize it's all wrong. Dark Magic is powerful, but it will turn on you the minute you show weakness. Voldemort would have murdered me and my family and anyone who displeased him without a second thought. The only people who flourished under his rule were liars, cowards and crooks. He would have killed me the moment I became expendable. He won't show any mercy to you either. Think about it, Robards. Do you want to live as a good man in a kind world where there are opportunities for the reformed, even though they may be a little slow in coming to you at first, or in an era of constant fear and temporary luxury?"_

As the fourth jet of purple light shout out from the Hufflepuff cup; as Lyra's chanting grew more frenzied; as the eastern sky became lighter; Robards knew what he had to do.

**X-X-X**

At the same time that Robards was introspecting, Harry was having a strange, but familiar experience. The graveyards disappeared and he was at King's Cross again, just like the time he'd gone to limbo during the war. But this time, the place wasn't empty. Trains were moving silently and the creature under the bench was looking stronger and glowing purple.

"I had hoped you would be at least as old as me before I saw you again, Harry," said a voice. Harry turned around to find Dumbledore striding towards him again, smiling sadly.

"Professor, what's going on?" Harry asked.

"It's unfortunate the trouble tends to follow you, my boy," Dumbledore sighed. He waved at the scene. "All the trains, all this activity is because Voldemort is being pulled to Earth again. It is disturbing the balance between Death and Life."

"I don't want to fight him again. We've worked too hard to lead a peaceful life. I won't let that be ruined again," said Harry.

Dumbledore nodded. "It would be easier to prevent him from coming back than facing him once again."

"How do I do that?" Harry asked desperately.

A swirling black hole appeared over the creature stuffed under the bench. It seemed to be sucking in the creature, transporting it to another dimension.

"The fifth Horcrux has been invoked. The gate has opened for Voldemort's return. He won't be able to step through until the exact time that he died. That gives you five extra minutes after all the Horcruxes have been invoked to stop him. The only way to stop him, is to break the Horcrux circle but for someone to do that is too dangerous," said Dumbledore.

"I brushed over the ring with a potent mixture of Basilisk venom and concentrated sulphuric acid. I broke into the museum earlier, making sure no one saw me. I thought it was a good idea in case Lyra managed to steal the ring. It should disintegrate soon. We have to hold him off until then," said Harry, remembering his cloaked trip to the museum.

"That was a good idea! You have to slow him down until the ring breaks up. The only way is to love, Harry. Only love will keep Voldemort from rising," replied Dumbledore.

A train pulled into the station and Dumbledore sighed. "It's sad," he said, getting distant as Harry's vision blurred. "One more person has to die trying to save everyone from Voldemort."

**X-X-X**

Harry opened his eyes. The sixth Horcrux was just beginning to glow purple. Draco's eyes were darting between Hermione and Lyra; between love and hatred.

"_Love,"_ thought Harry. He looked at Ginny and James, the little boy had buried his face in his mother's neck, silently crying, frightened. Harry locked eyes with his wife as he let happy memories and thoughts fill his mind – thoughts of how much he loved Ginny. Lyra frowned as the light from Harry began to flicker, weakening in intensity. She paused chanting, walking towards Harry instead.

Two things happened simultaneously.

Draco took advantage of Lyra's distraction to grab his friends' wands from the gravestone where Robards had left them.

At the same time, Robards lunged at the circle.

"No!" Hermione yelled at Robards, knowing that the circle would be protected.

The minute the old Auror touched a Horcrux, he was thrown back, purple sparks running along his body as he yelled in pain. "No," he whispered, "Dark magic is wrong."

"Fool!" screeched Lyra. "Do you think you can disrupt the ceremony? You are a liability if you have cold feet now! Avada Kedavra!" Robards hit the floor, dead.

"Expelliarmus!"

Lyra dodged just in time, missing the red light that shot towards her from Draco's wand. She spun around to find him, Ron, Hermione and Ginny pointing their wands at her. "So," she sneered, "you managed to escape, Draco. But you are all too late. The Dark Lord will rise again!"

Indeed, the seventh jet of light from the Horcrux hit the grave. Immediately, a black hole appeared in thin air above the headstone and Harry could see Voldemort's pale face getting closer through the hole.

Draco shot a Stunning spell at Lyra. She dodged and her followers rushed to her aid. "We're hopelessly outnumbered!" cried Ron.

Just then, twenty people –an assortment of Aurors and Auxilium members – Apparated on the scene.

"Get to Lyra!" Neville yelled as the new arrivals engaged Lyra's followers in fierce duels.

Ron, Hermione and Draco threw spell after spell at Lyra. She countered them, her face twisted in fear and concentration as she backed away. She threw two quick spells at Ron and Draco and a sudden Trip Jinx at Hermione. The boys put up Shield charms. Ron was knocked backwards while Draco managed to stay upright.

Hermione was too slow. She stumbled as the jinx hit her and Lyra pounced immediately.

"Sectumsempra!" Lyra shouted.

Hermione regained balance just in time to see Lyra cast the spell. She knew she couldn't shield herself in time. She squeezed her eyes shut, expecting excruciating pain. But it never came.

Draco jumped in front of her.

Hermione screamed as large, deep gashes appeared on his body and he fell to the ground, "NO!" she screamed, dropping to her knees beside him

"Hermione!" Ron yelled, dragging her away as Lyra's next spell nearly hit her. He pulled her towards a large gravestone so she could be shielded from the battle as he returned to fight Lyra.

The top of the sun appeared over the horizon.

Harry yelled in pain as his scar started burning again, the purple light from the Horcruxes suddenly growing stronger.

"_Harry Potter…"_ The familiar, high, cold laughter reverberated through the air as Voldemort's head emerged from the black hole. In a few minutes, he would be able to completely step out of the inter-dimensional hole, reborn.

"_Love, Harry. The only way to defeat him and all evil is to love…"_ Harry remembered Dumbledore's words. He looked at Ron who was battling Lyra, both of them very near the Horcrux circle. He saw Hermione struggling against the Shield charm Ron had placed around her, trying to get to Draco, while her wand lay useless next to a barely alive Draco. Neville, Luna and George and so many people whom he loved were holding Lyra's followers back with their spells.

Near Hermione, encased in a sphere much like the one Nagini had been in seven years ago, was his son, James. The baby was crying, his sobs reaching Harry clearly. Right in front of the boy stood Ginny, fighting off anyone who came too close to her child. All the people he loved were fighting for _him_; for the happy life they had led for seven peaceful years. Harry remembered everyone who died fighting in the previous war, fighting to make the world a better place. Now, they were all fighting again…to defend their world.

Voldemort was clawing his way out.

"I love them," Harry whispered, his whole body filling up with warmth as he saw his friends; as he saw Ginny and James. "I love them so much."

Ginny suddenly looked up, as though reading his thoughts. "I love you, Ginny," Harry said softly.

Suddenly the pain in his scar reduced dramatically. The purple light radiating from his scar changed to pure gold. Voldemort's red eyes narrowed as he was suddenly pushed back into the hole by some unseen force. This seemed to encourage everyone fighting for the good side.

Hermione yelled at Ron to let her out of the Shield charm, her expression determined. She picked up her wand and joined him. The two of them dueled Lyra, pushing her closer and closer to the circle. The sun was rising fast now, and Harry was on the point of collapsing, unsure of how much longer he could hold off Voldemort.

Then, finally, the corrosive liquids he had coated the ring with took effect. With a sharp hiss, the surface of the ring bubbled as the acids ate through it. It quickly disintegrated. The purple lights disappeared the minute the ring was completely destroyed.

Voldemort's angry, fearful scream pierced the air as the black void began sucking him back in. The closes objects were also being sucked into the vacuum. Ginny ran to Harry since the circle was now broken and pulled him away from the hole. Ron backed off but Hermione gave a terrified Lyra a loathsome glare.

"You can join your master and rot in Hell!" Hermione screamed. "Expelliarmus!"

Lyra's wand flew out of her hand and the force of the spell knocked her off her feet and straight in to the void. Her last scream responded through the dawn as the hole closed up and disappeared completely.

The battle ceased immediately as Lyra's followers surrendered. Harry and Ron hugged Ginny and James but Hermione rushed to Draco.

"Hermione," he whispered. His eyes were half-closed and he was paler than ever, his deep wounds still bleeding copiously.

"Draco, just hang in there. I can heal you, love," Hermione said, running her wand over his gashes. The counter curse wasn't working fast enough and she was too tired to put more power into the spell. Harry, Ron and Ginny gathered around her, unable to help – none of them knew the spell.

Draco clutched Hermione's wrist, stopping her wand. "It's too late," he murmured, "I've lost too much blood. You…you can have a happy life with Weasley…"

"Don't say that! I can do this. I can heal you!" Hermione sobbed. She kissed his forehead. "I love you. I won't let you go."

A little object, glowing blue, floated over to her. Frowning, she reached out and touched it, recognizing it to be the Resurrection Stone.

The ghostly form of a handsome young man emerged from the Stone. He looked at Hermione. "I am Cadmus Peverell. Your love for this man is remarkable. I can help you save him."

"How?" Hermione demanded. Draco was just barely awake now.

"I sense that you love another man," said Cadmus, his eyes coming to rest on Ron. "I can help you convert that love into energy that you can use for the spell. But, you will never be able to love Ron Weasley romantically again. He will be no more than a friend. Choose wisely, but quickly. You only have three minutes before Draco Malfoy is lost to you forever."

Hermione looked shocked. She would never love Ron again if she accepted Cadmus' terms, but he would still love her. Did she have the right to do that to him? Could she completely take away any hope Ron might have of them being able to resolve their issues? Was she prepared to be with Draco knowing that he'd run away from her once before and could do it again? Ron had done so much for her, but so had Draco.

She looked down at the dying man. He was in that state because he had tried to protect her. Ron had taken her to safety. He had done what Harry would have done. She looked at the Draco's hand, entwined in her own and she knew she could never love Ron as anything more than a friend. As she looked up into Ron's blue eyes, she knew he too could see how she felt about him.

Ron looked heartbroken, but he nodded. "Save him, Hermione," he said, his voice choked.

"I don't want to hurt you, Ron."

"You would hurt me more by being unhappy. I just want you to smile every day and…if Draco is the person you want to laugh with, I cannot deny you that joy. I love you too much to see you sad. I love you…enough to let you go," said Ron.

Hermione's eyes filled with tears as she turned to Cadmus. "Help me save Draco," she said resolutely.

"Heal him," said Cadmus.

Once again, she performed the healing spell. This time, her whole body glowed blue as energy filled her and Draco's wounds closed. The colour returned to his face and he breathed deeply. When Hermione healed the last wound, Cadmus smiled at her. "I hope you have a long, happy life together." He disappeared and the Stone fell to the ground.

Draco was unconscious now. Harry and Ginny hugged Hermione as Luna and Neville walked over, carrying James. Hermione looked at Ron. She still had all of her memories of them being together, but there were no longer any _feelings_ in those memories. She no longer felt the butterflies in her stomach when she looked at Ron.

"Hermione."

Now _that_ voice sent pleasant shivers up her spine. She turned around and hugged Draco. "You made it," she said gently,

He nodded against her neck. "All thanks to you."

Harry helped him up grinning. The others welcomed him back but Draco walked up to Ron who was standing apart, looking resentful.

"Thank you," said Draco holding out his hand.

Ron looked surprised. "I thought you were unconscious through the healing."

"I was, but I was also aware of everything somehow." He looked Ron directly in the eye. "I love Hermione. I love her so much, I would have done what you did for me just now if _you_ had been the one dying."

Ron's face softened though he still looked pained. "Take care of her…Draco." The two men shook hands, glad that everything was over. Everything was peaceful again.

_**Six months later…**_

"Why are we in such an expensive restaurant?"

"Nothing but the best for the love of my life," Draco said.

Hermione chuckled but smiled contently.

Draco was fidgeting in his seat. He was usually never nervous on a date.

"How's Ron?" she asked, wondering why Draco looked so nervous. She hadn't been around Ron much at his own request. He had said he needed to get used to the idea of not having her around all the time. Whenever they met, however, Ron was nothing short of the perfect best friend.

Draco grinned at the question. "Oh, he's fine. He's also on a date tonight. Actually, I think this is the seventh date he's going to this week."

"With the same girl?" Hermione asked, surprised.

"Yeah. I set him up with an acquaintance of mine last week. They 've really taken to each other."

Hermione spotted the slightly mischievous look in his eyes. "Who's the lucky girl?"

"Astoria Greengrass."

Hermione gaped at Draco. "_Ron_ is going out with an ex-Slytherin? _Ron?_"

"Well," Draco said, drawing out the word, "he doesn't really know her last name. It slipped my mind when I introduced them."

Hermione laughed. "That is _just_ like you."

Draco shrugged. "They're getting along just fine."

Hermione eyed him twisting his napkin in his fingers. "Why are you so nervous?" she asked.

"Why are you so nervous about me being nervous?" he countered.

She hesitated. "The last time we were in this restaurant, you were just as nervous. That was the night you ran away to Bulgaria." She looked slightly scared, as if she were expecting him to run away again.

He took her hand across the table. "Last time, I was actually going to say something else, but I didn't get the chance." He took a deep breath. "Consider this a redo of that night. This is what I'd originally planned today."

He stood up and walked around the table, still holding her hand until he was right in front of her. "I'm not running away. I'm never going to leave you again. I can't live without you and I don't _want_ to live without you. I've made plenty of mistakes but the biggest tone was that I tried to stay away from you. Now, I know that I could never do that. I want to spend the rest of my life with you." He went down on one knew, pulling a little velvet box out of his pocket. "Hermione Jean Granger, I love you and I want to be with you forever. Will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?"

The whole restaurant was watching, completely silent. Hermione looked frozen for a moment and then she breathed happily, "Yes! Of course I will!"

The crowd burst into cheers and applause as Draco slid the ring onto her finger and the happy couple kissed. Draco and Hermione knew they wouldn't turn back now. The world was safe, their friends were happy and they had each other. They were done with saving the world. They had finally reached their happily ever after.

* * *

><p><strong>I really didn't like the ending much, but it's the best I can do for now. I may rewrite it later but I won't make drastic changes...<strong>

**I hope you all enjoyed this story! Thank you all so much for your reviews all through the story. It's my first Dramione and I'm really happy that it got so much positive feedback.**

**So, one last time, please review! Can I get at least five reviews? :)**


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